My heart is breaking for my son

amother

Blonde

Tue, Dec 17 2019, 5:54 am

Does he have a dominant hand yet? Sometimes if a kid still isn't using one hand dominantly it can cause stuttering. Try to notice when he writes, cuts, etc. and if for example he switches in the middle, try to get him to stay with that hand and have the other hand hold the page. I think the hand they start with in general is usually the dominant one.

ra_mom

Tue, Dec 17 2019, 7:19 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Thank you everyone for your responses. They're very comforting.

I will make an appointment with my pediatrician tomorrow and see if I can get antibiotics prescribed.

Please don't do this test at a pediatrician who doesn't believe in PANDAS. He won't be honest about the range of results. He also won't agree to treat, and if he does, he won't know the right approach and will also not want to follow through after one round of antibiotics.

amother

Burgundy

Tue, Dec 17 2019, 9:01 am

ra_mom wrote:

Yes to all of this

amother

Plum

Tue, Dec 17 2019, 12:57 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

My four year old son started stuttering about five montsh ago. I spoke to his pediatrician and a speech expert who said to give it six months before treating. Today, at PTA, his Morah told me that she keeps stopping them but kids are making fun of him and he's hanging on her because he's afraid to socialize.

I'm sitting here crying. I'm going to call a speech expert tomorrow but the internet is not being very reassuring about therapy helping anyone. It said something about it helping 1 percent of cases. I'm so scared he's in for years of bullying and hard times. Kids can be so cruel. Sad

Any helpful advice?

yes, kids can be cruel. maybe you can find him another playgroup where kids are nicer. sometimes if the groups are smaller, just a few kids, they might stick together more. or if you put him with a group that mixes the ages, where he has kids both older and younger in his class, then he can socialize with kids that aren't talking yet. or perhaps if you put him in a place like strivright, which I'm really not familiar with so I don't know but I think they focus on kids with auditory/ other issues together with mainstream so maybe they're more careful regarding bullying and maybe since other kids might have similar or other issues, they might be less likely to bully. I don't know, but just an idea to maybe look into different preschools where the kids might be more accepting due to their own issues or a small group or if the teachers are trained to teach tolerance, respect and no bullying.

amother

Blue

Tue, Dec 17 2019, 2:24 pm

My son has a stutter too since around that age and he's now 17 and doing really well at school. It kind of comes and goes, especially when he's nervous. He's been to speech therapy etc...it didn't really help much. What helps is to just be open about it - bh he's quite popular and confident.

I think being open and non-secretive about these kind of things makes them much less of a big deal. Many times, what looks like bullying is really curiosity. If the teacher were to explain to the class how stuttering works and present it as a fact and not something negative, the kids will probably stop bringing it up. Queen Elizabeth's father, King George had a stutter and was very much respected and loved.

Teach your son to not be ashamed of it, it's just a trait, like some people wear glasses, some people have brown hair, some people need hearing aids, some have freckles, some blue eyes, some stutter.
You need to build up his confidence to the level that if a bully were to make fun of his stuttering, he can calmly reply with "yes, I stutter and I'm taking speech classes for it" and then move on to a different topic. Bullies expect a reaction or a fight, when you surprise them instead with factual information, they're stuck because they'll have no comeback for that.