Is stuttering normal at 3 years old?

[mookie]

I'm not quite sure, but I think my dd might have a stuttering problem. Not a terrible one, but I think it's getting worse, since it's now pretty noticable. It's mostly when she says a sentence starting with "You" or "I." For example, she'll say "You-you-you-you you go with me potty, Mommy." or something similar. I can ask her to repeat the sentence and she'll say it exactly the same way. Anyone else have this problem, and if so, is it just something normal that they grow out of? She has her annual dr. appt. next week, so I'm planning on asking him then.

Thanks for any thoughts or experiences!

 

[mickeyboat]

Definitely ask your doctor, but I would say it is a stage. Has your DD recently learned a lot of new words? Has she become a lot more verbal?

Hannah did it around that age. I think her little brain was working faster than her little mouth, and she had to stop to think about which of her new words she wanted to use. She tended to do it at the beginning of a sentence, too. She is now 6 and does not have a problem.

Denae

Edited to add - I did a google search, looks pretty common.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=stuttering++3+year+olds&btnG=Google+Search

 

[golfgal]

This is normal most likely. All of my kids did this and none of them stutter. I think at this age they are so busy and try to talk too fast. If they stuttered it would be pretty much all the time.

 

[debster812]

This is normal most likely. All of my kids did this and none of them stutter. I think at this age they are so busy and try to talk too fast. If they stuttered it would be pretty much all the time.

ITA with this. They are acquiring language SO quickly at this age, and do everything at 100mph they can't speak as quickly as they can process.

Mention it to your doctor the next time you're at the office, but I would not be too concerned with it. My DS is 8, and he did this off and on for almost 18 months at about the same age as your DD.

 

[mookie]

Definitely ask your doctor, but I would say it is a stage. Has your DD recently learned a lot of new words? Has she become a lot more verbal?

Hannah did it around that age. I think her little brain was working faster than her little mouth, and she had to stop to think about which of her new words she wanted to use. She tended to do it at the beginning of a sentence, too. She is now 6 and does not have a problem.

Denae

Edited to add - I did a google search, looks pretty common.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=stuttering++3+year+olds&btnG=Google+Search

Thanks for the tips - I was on that same google search!

Yes, she has increased her language a bit more recently. I'm hoping that's all it is...she does seem to do it when she's excited, too...

 

[TEENEE]

Perfectly normal at that age. Their little brains move faster then their mouths.

 

[Hillbeans]

I have had a mild stutter since I was little - sometimes it was worse than others and I do remember going to speech class during school hours when I was around 7 until I was around 9 or 10. I don't know if I stuttered at 3 though, but I think it's very common to do it at that age because of the reasons everyone else mentioned about getting excited and or nervous.

Does anyone in your immediate family stutter? My father does, but we both have a very mild case of it. It can be a very isolating thing though, so if you do think it is something she is not growing out of, check with your doctor and inquire about speech therapy. I think if it is an issue and you catch it early, it can be treated very easily.

Good luck to you.

 

[Ava83]

Normal-my dd is the same way. She will stutter while trying to get the words out-she is thinking. My little one also lisps and I was wondering about that and was advised that they do not even worry about that till in school.

I googled it also..I was concerned also.

 

[Tinijocaro]

I'm pretty sure that true stutterers tend to stutter on "explosive" sounds like the letters d,p,b,t,k. Don't quote me though, but you may want to look it up. Your dd sounds normal.

 

[gris gris]

My DD3 started this in February - I took her for speech screening and they told me it was normal for her age and they didn't see any problems. She does the first letter of the sentence thing too. In all of March, she never stuttered, and now it's back again.

One thing they told me was to talk SLOW - I talk very fast! And, not to correct her or bring attention to it. Patiently listen to her until she's done with her sentence/question and then respond in the normal way that you would.

 

[crazee4mickey]

When DS was 3 (he is now 17) he stuttered like crazy and even got to the point where he would "sing" things he wanted to say----when they sing they don't stutter!

We took him to speech pathologist and we were told that in most cases it is perfectly normal at this age to stutter and it is usually started by the child feeling stress when you say even the most innocent of questions or phrases such as "tell daddy what you did today!", "show grandma what a big boy you are and say your abc's!"

At frist we kind of doubted this because we thought we would never do that to our child!! But then we realized that even when we are so proud that we want to share his progress with loved ones we were putting a degree of pressure on him to "perform". We were also told not to call attention to it and to speak slowly so he wouldn't feel rushed.

Even simple things like "where do you want to go?" or "do you want some juice?", would lead him to begin stuttering and the next thing you knew he'd be answering us in a sing song voice.

We felt so bad, not even realizing what we had been doing thisas it had not affected our first son. Out of our 4 kids he was the only one who stuttered, and he stuttered until he started kindergarten then it stopped! Thank goodness as he was on a waiting list to see a speech teacher and the list was so long we didn't get a call that there was an opening until he was half way through kindergarten!

He outgrew it-----now that he's a teenager it has worked to our advantage because if he has been out at a party and had anything to drink he stutters slightly!

I would definately have your child checked out for peace of mind and just to make sure as it may be something that requires a little help.

 

[DisneyBug1995]

One thing they told me was to talk SLOW - I talk very fast! And, not to correct her or bring attention to it. Patiently listen to her until she's done with her sentence/question and then respond in the normal way that you would.

My DS4 is in speech for stuttering and some other speech problems. We were also told to talk slow and to wait a couple of seconds before you respond to something he says. They are trying to talk like you but are not able to think as fast. She also said it was very common in children at that age.

 

[Annette_VA]

Interesting that you posted this.

When we were in WDW last week, my 2.5 year old DS started w/ the "I..I..I..I.." stutters. We figured it was just because he was so overstimulated, tired, etc. But it's continued now that we're home.

I figured I'd give it a couple of more weeks and if he's still doing it, I'll call his ped.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I've noticed in preschoolers that they sometimes have strange speech patterns emerge when they used to not have that particular pattern. Those tend to be the ones that fall out on their own. If something has ALWAYS been present I would tend to think it would be something to ask the doctor about.

The little girl I nanny is 4. Every once in awhile she will start with some odd speech thing (like dropping the "R" sound off of the end like she was from the Northeast even though she was pronouncing the "R" before). Lately she has been stuttering a bit but it is usually when she is off on some LONG story and sort of forgets where she wanted to go with it. When that happens I usually ask her "They did what?" and it gets her back on track.

A classmate of DS's used to "echo" himself - he would say a sentence and then repeat the entire sentence in a whisper. That was kind of odd.

My sister used to echo the last sound of certain words. She would say "pool" then say "ool, ool, ool". That went away without any intervention.

Definitely watch and listen, but more than likely this will resolve as your little one gains more "speech experience".

 

[redshoes]

My DS started stuttering off and on when he was about 2.5 yrs old. I noticed that it seemed to correlate with a growth spurt. He would start to stutter and it would continue for a week or so and then he would grow (it seemed like he would grow by inches almost over night). The stuttering would then stop, until he had another huge growth spurt. I spoke to our doctor about it and he said that it is perfectly normal at this age, but to be careful to not call too much attention to it because it can make the child self conscious and actually make the issue worse.

 

[momof1princess]

my DD (now 8) was the same way-sometimes she'd struggle for 5 seconds or more just to begin a sentence, but i realized she was really only doing it when she was really excited about something and trying to share it with me. she's outgrown it now, and doing very well. i'm sure your DD will pass her checkup with flying colors!

 

[monarchsfan16]

At that age whole word repetition is normal. Pretty much they're talking faster than they can come up with the word, and they don't have quite a big enough vocabulary yet. When you need to be concerned is if it's repetition of just a letter.
One other thing. Don't bring attention to it. It can cause them to get stressed out wondering what they're doing wrong, and can actually lead them to be a real stutterer (repetition of sounds vs words), because they're trying to correct the "problem"