My son is 4 yrs old and recently started stuttering. I don't know why, but it is killing me to see him struggling to speak when he's always been fine. Is there anyone who's delt with this? I don't know how to go about handling this, any advice is much appreciated. What my son does is when he's speaking his words have become very choppy and he'll stop a word and say ma. and he can repeat ma up to 8 times in a row before he can start the next word.
Thank you in advance.
-A.
I agree with everyone on this- their brains are going faster than their mouths. My oldest son stuttered when he was little, outgrew it, and is now in law school :)
Just be patient.
My son is also 4 years old and I was worried about his speech for a while. He is very articulate, but sometimes says the same thing over and over until he finally gets it right. My husband and I have talked about it a lot and we have come to the conclusion that he is just too excited to "just say it". I spoke with his doctor and he agrees. His brain is thinking too fast and his mouth can't keep up.
A.,
Hi, I have three sons. My middle one has always had problems with his speech he has been in speech therepy since age four in preschool. He is in first grade now and the stuttering and misprounce words is nearly history. He may of out grown it but I did not want to take my chances its a lot harder the older they get to correct a speech problem so i made the decision to start him early.The only reason they have given me for this is that he is very smart and his brain has never stops enough for him to think about talking.
However you have said you have a four year old who recently started to stutter, I am in the same position. My four year old has started the same thing. Heres is my thoughts on why....at four they began to form questions in their mind, a lot of their time is spent thinking about their surroundings and even if they do not relize it they are thinking of one thing and talking about something eles. Its neat to see really, my advice is give him a year if it continues maybe seek some professional help or advice otherwise tell him to slow down a little and enjoy his new found thinking. I would also say do not make to big of a deal out of this if they get embarassed it will only make it worse.Hope this helps.
L. K
This is common when kids are trying to keep up with their ever-growing vocabularly. Also, adults tend to speak quickly, and in an effort to be heard (interrupting) or from being anxious/excited about a subject, or trying to speak to quickly themselves, it can happen to kids at this age. Most kids outgrow this phase, but if you are concerned, speak to your pediatrican. There is also a great site: http://www.stuttersfa.org/ which can help you decide if there is a more serious problem, and how to get help.
What helped us is speaking more slowly around our daughter, coming down to her level (physically) when she is about to speak - and giving her our full attention with our eyes and ears...as well as sometimes placing a hand on her lovingly while she gets out the first words. This way, she feels reassured and comforted. Also, since kids are aware of the struggle, try not to point it out or make a big deal about it so they don't become even more self-conscious.
Best of luck!
My daughter is going to be 3 in January...she started to stutter when I had our newest addition...my other daughter is only 4 months. Her peditrician said is was a result of the new baby and the fact that she has a very large vocabulary. Her mind works faster than her mouth does...anyways, it has gotten much better over the past couple of months. Since it is a newly developed problem it will most likely pass.
~M.
I have not personally dealt with this, however my best friend is a Speech Pathologist. I know most of the Valley's preschools and K-8 have access to a speech specialist. You may want to talk to his teacher if he's enrolled in pre-school, or bring it to the school's attention when he is enrolled. Good luck.
I grew up with a friend who stuttered, we always asked her to slow down and then she could talk just fine! I think most of stuttering is cause their brains have all this stuff they want to say and then their mouths get behind! I would just try asking him to slow down and think about what he wants to say as he is saying! I hope this helps!
I went through this with my son. It is because their brains are working faster than their mouths. Often they feel frustrated and then get flustered. Don't make a big deal out of it. Don't interrupt him. Give him your full attention and let him get out what he needs to say. Afterwards remind him to take a deep breath, think about what he wants to say and then say it.
I am not sure exactly what your son is doing, but stuttering is only when the child repeats the same 1 letter sound. When my son "stuttered" he'd repeat part of the word. If he was trying to say STOP he'd repeat STO. Just something to watch for.
My son is four and he started stuttering about a year ago. At first it was pretty bad. He would repeat the first word of his sentence over and over sometimes 10-20 times. I talked to the doctor and he said it was normal for kids his age and that most of the time they grow out of it. They just get excited and are speaking faster than they can get the words out. He has gotten much better as time goes on. He still does it from time to time but it is much better than a year ago. Just slow him down when he starts to do it and give him lots of attention. I wouldnt worry to much, he will most likely grow out of it. I know how you feel though I was really worried, I didnt want him to start school stuttering and get picked on. I looked into the speech therapy thing, but the doctors say you only need to do the speech therapy if they repeat the first letter of the word, not the whole word. Like for look, they would say l l l l l l l l l look. My son did that to a few times also. I would just wait it out. My son was pretty bad for a few months now it's just every so often when he's really excited.
Hope this helps!
I have been a daycare teacher for five years and you would not believe how common this problem is. My guess is you have a very intellegent son, and he always has a lot on his mind. A lot of the times that I see this it is because there mind is going faster than there little mouth can go. What I have always found helpful is to tell the to Stop, think about what you want to say and then say it. If you can remind him of this the problem will usually go away, it is just a matter of making conscience of what he is doing. Hang in there it will all work out.
D.
