Many children experience dysfluency during their early language years. You will typically see this occur between the ages of 2-5 years of age. At this time in a child’s life, they are going from using 1-2 word phrases to short and simple sentences, asking and answering questions, and understanding a wide variety of vocabulary that they may or may not be able to explain yet. If your child begins to stutter, here are a few things to ask yourself:
Has your child been stuttering for longer than 6 months?
Is your child aware of stuttering, anxious, or experiencing distress around it?
Do you have any family history of stuttering?
If you said “no” to each of these questions, then give it a little more time. It may very well resolve naturally. However, feel free to reach out to a Speech-Language Pathologist for questions and reassurance; Stewart SLP is always happy to help!
Conversely, if you answered “yes” to any or all of the above questions, it is best to contact a Speech-Language Pathologist for an evaluation. We can help determine whether your child’s stuttering is developmental or a true motor-based dysfluency.
Is it Developmental Stuttering?
It can be! This is especially common for children around the ages of 2-5 years of age. Developmental stuttering can occur as the child’s language is exploding. This may look like the child’s mouth can’t keep up with their brain and what they would like to say. This typically comes and goes throughout the child’s day. You may hear repetitions or phrases, words, syllables, and even sounds (e.g., my-my-my mom, b-b-b-but). You may also see prolongations and blocks (described below), though these stuttering behaviors are somewhat less common in developmental stuttering than in motor-based stuttering. The child with developmental stuttering typically has little awareness that he/she is stuttering.
Is it Motor-Based Stuttering?
It can be! In contrast to kids experiencing developmental stuttering, children experiencing motor-based stuttering have slight speech and perceptual differences to listen and look for. Motor-based stuttering still begins most frequently when a child is between the ages of 2-5 years of age. It lasts longer than 6 months in time. You may hear single-sound repetitions (e.g., Can I have i-i-i-ice cream), prolongations (e.g. Can I have icccccccccccccccce cream), or blocks (e.g. Can I have ice (long silence paired with ready oral posture) cream). You may see or hear other body signs such as head nodding, eye blinking, facial grimacing, whole body movements, and distracting sounds. The child is usually aware of his/her difficulty speaking and may even experience negative self-perceptions, distress, and/or communication avoidance.
Prognosis:
85% of young children recover from stuttering! For the 15% who do not recover, you can seek treatment with a Speech-Language Pathologist at any point in your child’s journey with disfluency. As always, early intervention is best, once your child has passed the 6-month mark of stuttering.
What can you do at home?
When you begin to notice that your child is stuttering, keep a simple record or journal of their stuttering. This will make it easier to track details over 6+ months and help to guide decisions about if/when to evaluate. This doesn’t need to be complicated; simply mark the days on a calendar with a 0 (no stuttering), 1 (a little stuttering), 2 (medium stuttering), or 3 (lots of stuttering). Occasionally write down examples of your child’s stuttering for later review.
Avoid telling your children to “relax”, “take a deep breath” or “slow down”; instead, modify your own speech to match your advice. For example, pause in between conversational turns, reduce the speech of your speech, and use declarative language instead of only asking questions.
Avoid jumping in to finish what the child may be trying to say. It might feel helpful to fill in your child’s words, but it usually makes children feel incapable and unheard. During a stuttering moment, focus your attention on your child, relax, and reassure them that you are listening and giving them all the time they need to share their ideas. Focus on the message itself, not how it is being delivered.
Use the word “stuttering” when talking about your child’s speech. It is not shameful and promotes greater comfortability talking about what is actually happening.
Acknowledge and accept what you can’t control: You can’t control the presence of a stutter. You can’t completely control interpersonal stressors (e.g., major life changes, traumatic events, sibling conflicts), any of which can exacerbate stuttering. You can’t control your child’s temperament (e.g., perfectionistic tendencies, high degree of sensitivity, anxious, a predisposition to stutter).
Know and act on what you can control: You can control your response to your child’s disfluency. You can control how you discuss and normalize stuttering in your family and social networks. You can control the predictability of your child’s schedule. You can control the pace of the conversation. Finally, you can control competing for talking time if the child has siblings.
Watching your child stutter can feel scary and overwhelming. Speech-Language Pathologists can help you make a plan with the goal of giving your child the gifts of control and self-acceptance.
