Stuttering 3 Year Old

Very common at this age. She has a million things she wants to say. She is trying so hard to say it all. End result she stutters. The one thing you do not want to do is focus on it. I would not even bring it to her attention. It will get better.

If you haven't already given the pediatrician a heads up- you probably should. A quick speech evaluation could clear up whether this is temporary or a long-term issue that needs intervention.
Best of luck!

L., a few years ago I was at a medical camp and there was a physical therapy convention going on simultaneously, and I met the speaker for one of the topics, which was "Stuttering and Crawling Therapy" something like that.

The key was to get your kid to practice crawling around on all 4's again. Crawling on hands/knees helps reestablish the connections across the two hemispheres of the brain, and they were seeing fast improvements, within days/weeks. Kids who talk early and walk early often skip the important crawling phase.

So, since I was a stutterer I thought, I'll give it a go, won't hurt. And within a few days, my very own adult stuttering almost stopped. Gone. When I am tired and stressed or nervous, I can still get hung up on an occasional T...as in Texas.

And ditto the other insights here, it's a normal developmental things for kids to go through...but please still seek help and answers and support. My parents did not ever help with my stuttering and it was embarrassing as an adult.

she is stuttering because she can't talk fast enough for her thoughts. it is very common.

how you help her is to IGNORE it. it should pass. A friend's son was stuttering rather badly at 3. now at 4.5 he talks perfectly,

if you draw attention to it, you could create a long term problem.

it is common and normal.

My daughter had a lisp when she was 3 that lasted until she outgrew it close to 5 years old. We talked to a speech pathologist who told us that Lots of pre-k aged kiddos go through a period of lisping or speech dysfluency (like stuttering) for various reasons. She mentioned stuttering because my DD stuttered once during her evaluation, but she never really had the problem continuously. The speech pathologist said it usually has to last quite awhile or have a strong family history for your kiddo to need speech therapy.

I would not react to the stuttering and just be patient as she gets through words. If you're worried talk to your pediatrician but don't worry your kiddo about it, and definitely don't think one argument between mom and dad could 'cause' stuttering.

Think hard about WHEN she does this. Is it mostly when she is excited and trying to express herself through a lot of excitement and energy? Or conversely, does she do it when she's really tired out, or needs something to eat, or is distracted? Or maybe both kinds of situations are when she does this?

It's very normal for kids around this age -- yes, even kids who have been excellent talkers -- to prolong sounds and stutter and repeat words and phrases as if they can't get things out. Some kids do things like this: "And I, and I, and I, and I petted his doggy!" or "It's, it's, it's, it's daddy!" She may be doing this as well.

Yes, it's worth talking to the pediatrician and also worth getting some good parenting books that talk about ages and stages. Those books will discuss kids' communication skills at specific ages. Because she is learning a lot of new words almost daily, and because she is opening up rapidly to how exciting the world around her is, she is just desperate to express herself NOW and stumbles over the words. So don't panic that she has an actual stutter -- this may simply be the normal stage of "so excited she cant' get it out just yet."

If you really remain worried, ask for a referral to a pediatric speech therapist but please be open to the idea that this isn't a stutter but her brain going faster than her mouth is currently capable of going.

It's extremely common at that age. She has a million things in her head and sometimes her mouth just can't get the words out fast enough. Don't put a focus on it. Just ask her to slow down a little because your ears can't listen that fast.

You say you want to help her more than anything in the world. What you haven't said is if you have had a speech therapist evaluate her. THAT'S the FIRST step.

It's actually pretty common for a child this young to do some of this. Sometimes it's really "cluttering" rather than stuttering. They are thinking very hard about what they are trying to say. A speech therapist can figure out if this is normal in the development, or if she needs help.

THIS is what you need to do. Please get her an evaluation done NOW.

L.-

Our boy was doing a lot of this. I called it to the ped's attention. She said wait it out. It happens at 3, but is not problematic until 4 (they usually grow out of it). Mind you we had done speach therapy because he was a late talker. He's nearly 4 now, and if at first he did it 10-20 times a day, he now might do it 3-4 times a week, (largely if he is tired or hungry).

Best,
F. B.

Both my kids did this at about the same age. Sometimes they would just try to talk faster than their brain would let them and it came out sounding like a stutter.

Have there been any changes in the house like a new sibling or a change in the normal routine?

My son did this for about four months after baby sister arrived. He went back to his normal self in about six months. It was hard on him and on us as parents but we did weather the storm.

Just be patient and keep a notebook or journal so that you have something in case you do need to see the doctor for ideas.

the other S.

Her little mouth will probably catch up to her big brain soon. But check with your ped.