Stuttering | Imamother

mumsy23

Thu, Jul 20 2006, 10:46 pm

4 is a VERY normal age for a child to start stuttering temporarily. The best thing a parent can do in this situation is baisicly ignore it. Don't draw attention to it and DO NOT tell the kid to "STOP IT". This will just cause undo stress and may prolong the stuttering.

I know it is hard to watch, but at a parent you need to just let them get their sentences out and it will probably fade away with a year or two.

Good Luck!

anon

Thu, Jul 20 2006, 10:56 pm

This is normal, and there's a good chance that he will grow out of it. Tons of young children stutter, and the vast majority of them outgrow it. So it's probably too early to worry.

However, I have a few questions for you:
1) How long has he been stuttering?
2) Is there any family history of stuttering in the family?
3) Is he aware that he has a stuttering problem, or does he seem competely obvblivious to the fact that there's a problem?
4) Has there been any change in his life that would threaten his sense of security (example: move to new house or neighborhood, new sibling, illness or divorce ch"v)?

Until you respond, I will assume that he is likely just going through a phase. However, whichever way you respond, you want to do what you can to help him outgrow it and not do things to make it get worse.

So what can you do? FIRST AND FOREMOST: Do not call any attention to it!! Do NOT tell him to calm down, speak slowly, take a deep breath or any similar comments. They are unhelpful and generally create negative responses. This is because you don't want him to be aware that he's doing anything wrong. If he doesn't realize that he has a problem, then he won't be stressed or nervous about it, and it is more likely that he'll stop stuttering (eventually). Keep this rule in mind: The more a person tries to stop stuttering, the more s/he is likely to stutter.

Also, when you speak to him, give him ample time to talk and respond to you ( so he doesn't feel nervous and rushed when speaking) and speak to him slowly (so you'll be modeling correct speech, which he can unconsciously pick up on).

I know you didn't ask for advice, and you were just asking if it is normal. However, what I suggested is very basic advice that is given to any parent of a child who stutters. It's simple but important, so I thought you might want to know.

micki

Fri, Jul 21 2006, 9:37 am

Quote:

This is because you don't want him to be aware that he's doing anything wrong. If he doesn't realize that he has a problem, then he won't be stressed or nervous about it, and it is more likely that he'll stop stuttering (eventually).

this is excellent advice.
speaking as a parent who went thru this with one of my kids, I asked my ped. and he said not to let the child know that they were stuttering because they will be self consious and they cnnot control it anyway.

B"H they were young enough that no one made fun iof them in school.

it DID go away!

HatLady

Mon, Aug 07 2006, 12:32 am

My son went through it too, at around 4 years of age. I wanted to have him tested at school, but the teacher said she never heard him stutter at school! Go figure. In the end, after meeting with the school's speech therapist and teacher together, they all said to just wait. We did, also trying not to pay any attention to it, and it went away w/in a few months. I think it was the hardest on his older sister. She kept wanting him to "just stop it." There is a lot of info available on the web. (I seem to recall that one of the things to look for was what sort of "block" was present during the stutter. But I don't remember at all what to look for or what it means, sorry Sad

) Good luck and I'd say just to wait and see if things get better on their own within about 6-8 months.

Kol tuv,
The HatLady

anon

Mon, Aug 07 2006, 4:39 pm

Quote:

There is a lot of info available on the web. (I seem to recall that one of the things to look for was what sort of "block" was present during the stutter. But I don't remember at all what to look for or what it means, sorry )

The block refers to the stuttering moment. People can stutter in different ways. An example of stuttering that tends to be less severe is if the child stutters on the entire word as opposed to one sound in the word.

For example:
less severe, whole word repetition: Can Can Can Can I go play?
more severe, part word repetition: CCCCCCaaaaan I go play?

But this is just one very small part of the whole picture and you wouldn't base how serious the child's stuttering is just on this.