Stuttering Problem

Hey L.,
I am a speech language pathologist. I may recommend you taking him to a speech path for an evaluation, especially if things seem to stay the same or get worse over the next few weeks. One recent study said that telling kids to talk quietly can make stuttering worse, so that is one thing to try not to do. Other general advice:
1. In stead of telling him to slow down, you need to model slow speech for him when you are just speaking. Don't tell him that you are doing it, just slow your speech to a calm rate and maintain that especially when he is stuttering and you are having a conversation.
2. Don't draw attention to the stuttering.
3. Maintain eye contact with him when he is speaking, especially when he is stuttering.
4. Don't finish his sentence for him, or the word for him. Let him work through the stutter while you remain patient and engaged with him.
5. If your son starts to seem frustrated by his own stuttering then may need to be more concerned.

There is a great booklet that you can get from The Stuttering Foundation. There number is 1-800-992-9392 or their website is www.stutteringhelp.org. The booklet is called "If your Child Stutters: a guide for parents" It is great and gives wonderful advice and insights.
Remember, he is young and this is likely a phase, but you can do things that will help or could hurt. Patience is a big key.
Hope that is helpful.
I am a mom of two boys ages 4 and 1. I have been a speech pathologist for 7 years.

With some people stuttering is just a phase, (my daughter did a little for about 3 mos) but if it goes more than several months or seems to be getting worse I would definitely take him to a speech therapist for analysis. He is NOT too young to go to speech therapy. In fact, the younger you start the better the results. I only have my undergrad in speech therapy, so I didn't take the course on stuttering that people do for a Masters (honestly, it is a whole class all about stuttering. That is how complicated it can be.), but if it worries you, there certainly isn't any harm in having him screened. If nothing else, it might give you some peace of mind. Best wishes!

I also have a 3 year old who recently started stuttering. I called my Pediatrician and was told that she would likely outgrow it. The Pediatrician gave me the number of the Jordan School District program which I contacted for an evaluation. Our evaluation is scheduled for next week. It has been a couple of months since I first contacted the school district. In the meantime, we have been following the advice to slow down when we speak to her, and patiently listen to her. I've been trying to slow down our whole lifestyle and make sure we have plenty of time to talk and play every day. I had to lecture my older kids on not drawing attention to the stutter. These things appear to be working. She is only stuttering now when she is excited or has a lot to say. Good luck! We all want the very best for our children and it is so hard to see them struggle.

My oldest did a stuttering thing awhile back too. It started as he was figuring out how to make sounds that he hadn't figured out before. He was just stuttering to study the words and sounds that he was making. He doesn't do it much anymore. He just kind of stopped. My nephew though had to do speech therapy because he just didn't talk almost at all, and the older they are when they start the harder it is to help them. So if speech therapy is something you need the sooner you get him in the better.

My son (now 8 years old) started stuttering when we potty trained him. He developed an anxiety disorder (later, at age 5 when my brother died). Anyway, he stuttered for at least a year before he "out-grew" it--which is when he started to slow back down and talk in full words. He still talks louder, repeats himself, and extends stories when excited. He's not an "easy listen"--you have to pay close attention to what he says.

If you are very concerned, call the school district and ask for "early-intervention" and have an evaluation with a speech therapist. Early intervention starts at age 3.