So I have a few questions for bloggers out there, what is the deal with stuttering? Why do kids do it? When did it start for you? When did it stop? And how do you stop it?
Sean has been starting to stutter it has really only happened in the last few weeks. At first we didn't think anything of it but now he is doing it more and more.
I am concerned because is it a sign that something else can be wrong in his brain function or is it just stuttering?
A few people that I have talked to said it could be either. We are waiting to hear back from his speech pathologist from school and a private speech pathologist that specializes in stuttering.
Then after this started he threw up a couple of nights ago for three nights in a row. The scary thing is that it only was happening at night.
I spoke with his pediatrician and he told me not to worry that sometimes kids go through development differently. However everything I look at online about stuttering is that it starts around age 2 or 2.5 and ends by 4.
Sean is about to turn 4 in a week and half.
Am I just be crazy about this or should I push back?
4 comments:
Both of my boys went through a stuttering stage. 4-7. The school wanted them in speech therapy the pediatrician said it was a stage and that their brains were working faster than their mouths. I went took the pediatricians advice and they did indeed out grow it. Good luck, this is one of those things that you have to trust your instincts on how to handle it.
Hi Erin,
Gabi started stuttering about a month ago when she has a serious word surge. I was really worried and googled and googled and read about dysfluency. A normal developmental stage where (like Chele said) the brain works faster than the mouth. I read that if it persists over a 3-4 months then to have a therapist evaluate it to determine if it is indeed "stuttering" or only "dysfluency." Both can be overcome though with speech therapy. Gabi's stuttering has gone away now but I hear they go in and out of this "dysfluency" until they are 5 like your post said. Here are some tips i read about helping your children over it:
http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/welcome/conditions/stuttering.html
hope this info reassures you..I'm sure it will pass :)
Erin
Upwards of 80 percent of children who show stuttering symptoms during their preschool years grow out of it on their own. The current belief in the stuttering therapy community is that you should begin some form of therapy as early as possible. On the other hand, given that 80 percent of children self-cure, the claims of success with early therapy are in question.
Regardless of whether a child grows out of stuttering or persists, a lot can be done by GOOD therapy. Unfortunately, it's a field filled with incompetants and borderline quacks.
The stuttering foundation:
http://www.stutteringhelp.org/Default.aspx?tabid=4
has a lot of info for parents and a referral page for therapists. Your average school speech therapist may have little training in dealing with stuttering - they are generalists - and may in fact be uncomfortable working with stuttering children.
A good stuttering therapist will at least do no harm - they will work with you to make sure you don't stress out about it and cause your child to recognize that something's wrong.
There's a lot of bad info out there on stuttering - it's a very tricky condition. Trust the link I gave you above, they're good people and they know what's going on.
Daniel stuttered for a few weeks as well, and it really got me worried. Speech and language have always been his strong areas, so it was disheartening to suddenly see him struggle. The pediatrician did tell us that it was normal, though, and it cleared up on its own after a few weeks. I would get it checked out if it will put your mind at ease, but try not to worry too much.
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