Stammering in almost 3 year-old

DS1 will be 3 in October... he's got quite good language, we undersatnd most of what he says.;) But in the past few weeks he has begun stammering at the start of may sentences. This is not stuttering on certain sounds, but stammering before saying what he wants to say. For example, we get "wha wha wha wha what is that" a lot and "mummymummymummymummy I want...." a lot too. So in other words it is pretty much a full word being repeated over and over rather than just one consonant. It doesn't bother him, just seems like his brain is moving faster than his mouth can keep up with. And it doesn't happen all the time - probably about 50 percent of sentences.

Is this common at this age and will it pass on it's own, or should we go and see someone about it.

Dee, that is a form of stuttering. It can be "just a phase" but if not, it should be treated earlier rather than later. I have just recently had DS1 assessed for the same thing and he has started treatment.

Given that this is new behaviour, I would let it go for say 3 months, then book in for an assessment with a speech pathology if it is still going then. You will need a referral from a GP first. As I have been told, Australia is the world leader in treating pre-school stuttering, but if you don't do it early, it is much harder.

Also if you go public it can take a while to get in, so you might want to book now in that case and then you can always cancel if necessary. I believe the success rate for fixing it is 199/200 kids, so pretty good.

GL.

Thanks Mantaray - he's due for his 2 1/2-3 1/2 yr health check so I might book that in soon (was going to wait till he turned 3) and ask what they think. We do have private health insurance so would probably go that way if it came to that.

How old is your ds1 and when did he start doing it? How do they treat it?

DS1 is nearly 3 1/2 but has been stuttering for close on a year now. Otherwise he speaks very well, he was talking in 8 word sentences by 2. I was hoping he'd "grow out of" this but hasn't.

At our initial assessment they said that it is best to treat it before they become self-conscious of it, as that can cause other problems. Also it's best if parents don't stress about it. Just gently tell him to take a breath and try again. They also suggest that you slow your own speech down when talking to him, and pause before responding in a conversation, to show that there is no rush to speak and it's ok to take your time.

They follow a program called Lidcombe (I think that's the spelling) which you can google. They start by introducing him to the concept of "smooth" and "bumpy" speech and encourage him to try "smooth talking" all the time. We play lots of games with him where he has to say phrases repetitively (such as "I've got a blue block, I've got a red block" etc) and praise him for smooth talking. Later I will be taught to interrupt him when he stutters.

Just a note for you private health insurance. As you are learning what to do to help him, if they put both you and your DS down on the receipt as clients, you get more back from private health as you get your allowance as well as his.

Thanks! I'll do some research and get him booked in for a check-up.

LOL funny this should come up because Yasin was stammering so his speechie gave me the number of the woman who has developed the current stammering programs that we use in Australia.
She told me that with 5 out of 6 children it's just a phase and will disappear within 6 months so the best course of action is not to ignore it for 6 months and it usually it goes away. If it persists for 6 months then getting treatment is very important. The best age for treatment is about 4. If it's still there in 4 or 5 months book an appointment with a speechie (I say 4 or 5 months because all the good ones have a waiting list so by the time you see them it's 6 months lol).

Interesting, I've noticed in the past couple of months Nina will say 'mum mum mummy' or 'dad dad daddy' and things like that, but I never actually thought of stammering. So thanks for this thread Dee.
I'm taking her to the dr next week for other things, so might bring it up.

Dee,
From what I can imagine, you're little man is so excited to get the sentence out that all the words are filling his head so quickly, he can't process them quick enough into words & so he falls over the start of the sentence. Does that make any sense whatsoever? If you are worried, contact the health nurse, but it sounds to me like he is in such a hurry to get the sentence out that it's a bit wobbly in the beginning. My oldest - Jessica did this for a while, we used to just tell her 'slow down, have a think about what you're saying & then try again'.
HTH!
Jayne