Three Year Old Stuttering

My son is 4 and nearly out of that phase. A three year old's brain is going full tilt with growing and a bunch of new stuff to process. Their vocabulary is starting to increase again and basically thier brain is out running their mouth. Just be patient with him and he will out grow it.

My cousin has a son who stuttered. It was recommended that she enroll him in learning a new language...Spanish in his case. I believe he was 3 or 4 at the time and it really helped eliminate a lot of the stuttering.

Normal process of development. If you are concerned, contact your local school district for a speech assessment. It is paid for by your tax dollars and is guarenteed by law.

My daughter went through a phase at that age as well with stuttering. A friend of mine experienced the same thing with her daughter at that age. Both kids have developed normally. I think it's not uncommon. Be patient with him :-)

My very verbal 31 month old started stuttering as well. He did it for about a month. Now he seems to have taken to the phrase, "Well, um..." to start sentences. I understand that at this age, stuttering is very common--it just means that the brain is working faster than the mouth.

The group on the December '06 board at babycenter.com discussed the topic there. And many of those folks were told the same thing--don't worry and don't make a big deal of it. They were told to just ignore it completely and always allow the child to finish the thought on his own.

Hope that helps.

I would call your school district and see if they can direct you to someone who can test your son and see if he needs a little help before he starts school.
J.

one of our daughters is doing this as well. speech therapist told us it's totally normal and that they don't even consider it "stuttering" since it's @ age 3 and a normal part of developing speech. was told not to worry, at least not for a few yrs! esp since it's @ the beginning of the word/sentence...totally normal...brain is working so fast that mouth can't get it out!

Our boy twin began stuttering about the time he began to string words together. We were very patient, didn't make an issue of it, and it has gone away (he just turned 3). He took longer to make sentences than his twin sister did and I think he was just SO excited to communicate, his little mind was working faster than his mouth.

my oldest daughter (now 13) stuttered for a couple of years slightly (like your son it sounds like) it started when she was about 2.5 and lasted until about 4.5 or so. She outgrew it and I made sure not to make a big deal of it in front of her.

I didn't see the similar request or responses--- but I think you should take him for an evaluation with a speech therapist ASAP. Sometimes speech problems are easier to resolve if they are dealt with right away.

S.,

My second son stuttered so bad I thought we were going to have to take him to speech theraphy! I talked to his ped about it and he said that if it didn't decrease in frequency in about 6 months then it would be time to take action, I kid you not almost 6 months to the day of that advise he out grew it! He explained that 3 year olds stuttering is cause by the brain moving faster than the mouth can, which makes since since they are still developing thier language skills... I know its hard to understand, but in time he should out grow it!

X.

Hi S., my son stuttered until age 5 and then it just went away, I too was very concerned. I would wait it out and see how it goes, If he is still stuttering when he goes to school he will be given speech therapy. --reading him lots of books might help. Good Luck, R.

Hi S. as every one else has said..... Me to my son is now 5 and is just fine. Some times he still does when he's excited about something to tell me. Like they said their brain works way faster than their mouth can get it out.

S.,

The stuttering is most likely a problem that your son will grow out of. My daughter who is also three had boughts of stuttering last year, and this coincided with the birth of my second daughter. I would not attribute her stuttering to the birth of her sister. Rather, I believe it was due to the sudden influx of ideas and her increased capacity to verbalize her feelings and observations but she could not get everything out at once. To combat this, I would instruct her to slow down and to think through clearly what she was trying to say and to say that. I would repeat, slow down and speak clearly. This helped a gret deal. Now, the stuttering has stopped, however on rare occassions she may find her self overwhelmed and wanting to get everything out. When this happens, she now self-regulates her speach pattern and will even say, "I know I need to slow down". It worked for me and this may work for you. I would just say do not label your son as a stutterer when this is likely a short-lived speech pattern.
- T.

My nephew did the same thing, he is now almost 18 and not a problem whatsoever. I wonder if it has anything to do with ADD or ADHD as that runs in our family. I wouldn't worry about it at all and trust your Pediatrician. Yep, it's usually just the mind working faster than the mouth can communicate. I'd have to tell my nephew to slow down, calm down and tell me whats so interesting to him. He was fine once he was given some patience to listen to him get it all out. :) It was very cute looking back on it now.

AT the age of three a school dirstrict speech therapist should do the evaluation. Make a request in writing to your school district STudent Services department and they have to do an eval within about 50 days. From there you may either choose to see a private speech therapist, possiblly get school district speech therapy or just "watch and wait" to see if it resolves itself.

Good luck

A speech therapist friend told me this when my son was doing that as well. She said it usually precedes a language spurt. Wait and watch, your child will probably have a jump in his language/verbal abilities pretty soon. Sure enough, that has been the case each time my son seemed to "get stuck" or have problems with expressing himself.

However if it is a consistent thing that does not go away after months, then have the school speech therapist test him (yes, even if he is not in school yet. This gets two birds with one stone (and is cheaper than paying a private practitioner too, esp if your insurance doesnt cover it). If he is found to have a speech problem/delay (which I doubt) then they/you can set up an IEP or 504 plan for speech therapy and/or preschool, so that he'll be just fine by time kindergarten rolls around.

Greetings S.: !st let me say that very few ever get used to the energy it takes to raise great children but we learn to appreciate those that did it for us even more.
I have a brother now in his 50's that had a "slight" stutter all his life and had caused him great embarrassment at times. He by the way is very successful in his chosen field of work. He has always enouraged parents of children that stutter to have them tested and get them help.
Other children can be mean and can take an otherwise healthy child and make him have problems. I know that school districs can di early intervention testing ( don't let it throw you off that its done by special education) --Special Education really stands for children with a special need be it gifted or stutter. Then yo can work with a speach therepist to help the tounge wrap around the words to come out,
Never be sorry about needed help for you child- each situation is bit different and there are many of us that have experiance that want to help you along the path of getting things under control. Take Care, Nana G

Hi S.,

BOTH of my boys did this around age 3. My oldest one, now 12, will still "stutter" occassionally. I asked the school to test him around 2nd grade, and they did. He had PERFECT results and found no problems at all.

What I discovered was this......when he read, he was fine. When he was repeating, he was fine. It was when his mind was in "free zone" and he could talk about anything he wanted was when he had "bumps in his words".

My youngest wanted to be like his big brother, so he began talking that way at age 3. He thought that's how you were supposed to speak.

Anyway, To sum up YEARS of having "bumps in our words" and no Speech problems (according to the pro's), we decided to make sure that EVERYONE in the house spoke slower. We parents are sometimes in a rush all the time and don't even realize that we are speaking so fast:O) My husband is the worst!

After trying very hard to always speak at a "normal" rate, the bumps have diminished. They are not gone by any means. But what I've learned, is when they are SOOOO excited about what they are trying to say...they have "bumps".

We came up with the word "bumps" because of speed bumps. The slower you go over them, the less the bump.

Be patient with your 3 yr old. He's so excited about all the things he can say, he just cannot say them fast enough :O)

I hope you can relate to something I've said in order to make the best decision for your son.

~N. :O)