Help! My little girl just started stuttering. She never did this until a couple of weeks ago when we were out of state. Now she stutters a lot - usually when she's excited. have any of you dealt with this? i don't know how to help her - it seems if I do anything to draw attention to it, it makes it worse. will it go away on it's own? should I talk to her pediatrician about it? thanks!

Stuttering can happen when preschoolers go through a developmental growth spurt. Sometimes their brains begin to process language faster than their little mouths can spit it out :-). I've seen this a bit in my classrooms over the years and one of my own girls went through a phase which lasted a couple of months. It usually appears rather suddenly and goes away on its own. As long as there are no other problems I wouldn't worry too much about it. Slow down your own pace of conversation a bit with her and try to resist 'jumping in' to say things for her. Don't draw tons of attention to it if possible. If it continues OR it troubles you a lot I'd call her pedi. as a next step. She could certainly have her speech evaluated by a speech/language pathologist.

Here's a link I found by googling "preschool stuttering" it talks a bit more about what I mentioned:
http://www.babycenter.com/400_how-can-i-tell-whether-my-preschooler-is-developing-a-stutte_506242_1001.bc

HTH,
Beth

Well, you said she seems to do it when 'excited'..so...
As Beth said..try not to interrupt, just 'bear with it' for the moment..then when finished just remind her to slow down next time. Or, at the very beginning, just as soon as it starts..get her attention and say 'ok, hold on, slow down so I can hear you well' and let her know this story sounds very exciting..that kind of thing..encouraging her to continue. :)

I've not had any who stuttered..maybe for a moment, but nothing ongoing...but I do have some lazy/sloppy talkers which gets worse when they're excited.

And I react just as I stated above...getting their attention and reminding them to slow down a bit so I can hear them better. With my 4 yr old I tell her she's 'talking sloppy' and needs to slow down and speak more clearly. Then I let her continue. Afterward, I will often correct her on a couple words..she uses a lot of "f" and "th" in her speech oh and "t" in place of 'c/k' so on those repeated mistakes I just go over those ... never overwhelming, just mentioning say 2 of 6 sloppy words and have her repeat them a few times, until I can notice a difference.

Anyway, I know that doesn't exactly deal with stuttering, but, I just wanted to give you the full idea of how I deal with 'our' issues. Correcting, yet encouraging.

HTH a bit

I ditto what Beth and Tara have said. My daughter, who is four, used to stutter a bit. It was nothing too serious and went away on its own after a few months. I just want to chime in and say that you are not alone. My dd did it too and it did pass. :)

Edit: I am SUCH an idiot... I totally misread that... sorry!! I had responded to it as if it were something completely different... oy...

Edit: I am SUCH an idiot... I totally misread that... sorry!! I had responded to it as if it were something completely different... oy...

LOL.. mommy brain! Don't you love it?


My dd has gone through stages were she stutters. She recently started again.. I really don't know what to think of it. At first I thought it was just a growth spurt and when she quit it seems to confirm just that, but now she's doing it again. I notice it is definetely related to excitement. If she is rushed it gets much worse.. like if dh is on his way out the door and hes in a hurry and she has something she wants to tell him she can hardly get it out. Through out the day when shes just playing or whatever shes fine she doesnt stutter at all. What concerns me most though is my fil has a stuttering problem so I'm wondering if its related. Anyway I guess I'm not really of any help,but I do know how you feel and I'll be keeping my eye on this thread.

I used to stutter when I was younger and eventually I grew out of it. Apparently it was bad but the doctor told my mom it was because I was excited.

thanks for the helpful comments! Beth, I read the Babycenter article and it really relieved me. Renee's stuttering seems to be the developmental/growth spurt type, not the "real" type. But I am going to keep an eye on it ( or I guess that should be an ear on it) and ask her pedi if it lasts more than a couple months. Yeah, Ashlee, it is frustrating. sometimes it seems to take her forever to say something. It was interesting though - last night she was at a friend's house, and the friend's mom said she didn't stutter the whole time she was there - maybe because she was around someone her own age who didn't? I dunno - I'm trying to speak slowly to her and always make eye contact. hopefully something will help this pass soon!

My little boy goes thru that every so often. It seems to go along with a growth spurt or developmental milestone sort of. Occasionaly it happens when he is feeling stressed.

It usually happens when he is excited and the thoughts in his head are so fast that he cannot get the thoughts out quick enough. It also happend when my MIL was dying and my husband left for about 3-4 weeks to care for her. It also happened when my husband was in India for 11 days.

It usually goes away (not as quick as I like) but about the time I am going crazy with it and I worry it is gone. He will be four in Feb and it has happened about 5 different times for about 2-3 weeks each for the worst ones.

They also say if they are just repeating a word this is normal. If they cannot get a whole word out, then it can be something else.

I had a friend who stuttered and a lot of it was when he would not slow down.

A lot of it also has to do with how they are hearing themselves.

They have a new hearing aid type of device that most people who have stuttered their whole lives emediately quit after having the device put in.

Sorry I got so long, but don't worry, it should stop soon.