Dora the Explorer Causes Stuttering?

[ILoveLT]

My DD is 2 years and 6 months old and is obsessed with Nick Jr. and Dora the Explorer, as well as other Nick Jr. shows. While Dora is a great show and teaches numbers, letters, colors, etc., the theme song goes, "Do-Do-Do-Do-Dora" and I am almost convinced that is why DD is repeating herself several times before she can express herself. She just started doing this a week ago, and it is driving me nuts. For example, she will say "I-I-I-I love you." Does anyone else have this problem? I am going to write to Nick Jr. and complain, and DD is forbidden from watching Dora for awhile. Also, another Nick Jr. show, the Wonder Pets, has the Ming Ming the Duckling pronouncing her r's as w's, which also drives me nuts. I am trying to teach DD how to speak correctly and these shows are not helping!

Take a look at this website for other mothers who are concerned!
http://www.nickjr.com/home/messageboard/viewthread.jhtml?bID=19&tID=279141&mID=342138&offset=0&_DARGS=/static/messageboard/viewboard.jhtml.12_A&_DAV=2

[egoldber]

Stuttering is a very common phase that most new talkers go through. Its completely normal and the VAST majority of children experience this at one time or another and do not become lifelong stutterers. As someone who stuttered into early adulthood (and still stutters on occasion), I was really freaked out when DD began stuttering and did some research. I was relieved to discover that this was a normal part of the language learning process.

Here's a link from ASHA, the American Speech Language Hearing Association:

http://www.kidsource.com/ASHA/stuttering.html

Here are some key excerpts:

"Almost all children go through a stage of frequent nonfluency in early speech development"

"What should I do when I hear a child speaking nonfluently?

* Children may be unaware that they are speaking nonfluently. Do not call attention to the nonfluent speech pattern.

* Do not say "Stop and start over," "Think before you talk," "Talk slower," or "Cat got your tongue?" Listen patiently and carefully to what the child is saying, and do not focus on how it is being said. "

[Karenn]

"Stuttering is a very common phase that most new talkers go through. Its completely normal and the VAST majority of children experience this at one time or another and do not become lifelong stutterers."

This is what I have read too. It is very common for preschoolers to stutter, and this was true well before Dora came on the air.

Here's a couple more links about preschool stuttering that maybe helpful:

[http://www.stutteringhelp.org/Default.aspx?tabid=6]

[http://www.stutteringhelp.org/Default.aspx?tabid=38]

[dhano923]

Like the PPs mentions, stuttering is very common in young children. The theme song to Dora is similar to singing "la la la la la Dora"; it's just a musical part of the song. It also teaches them that Dora begins with the "duh" sound (I read this in a magazine a long time ago, the writer of the song mentioned this in the story).

If your daughter is intentionally repeating letters, then you should tell her that's not correct and to please say it again, but if she is doing it unknowningly, then it's just something you have to wait for her to outgrow.

[maestramommy]

I just read your link to the the other website, and it seems to indicate that watching this show will not make your dd stutter. At least one speech therapist weighed in a said children cannot learn to stutter. Another person said stuttering is genetic. So it sounds like you don't need to worry unless your daughter starts doing that thing with other words and it goes on for a while.

[ILoveLT]

Well today DD stuttered a few times and then she sang the DDDDDora song. So go figure. I hope this doesn't last too long.

[HHCs Mom]

Just wanted to say that if your child is stuttering to give it some time and it will possibly go away. DS started stuttering about a month ago. Not saying the first sound of a word over and over like "m-m-m-milk" but he'd repeat his name over and over until he could complete a sentence, "Harrison-Harrison-Harrison wants a cookie". It was SO FREAKING ANNOYING!!! We just tried to ignore and I bit my lip more times than I care to remember but just this past week he has quit doing it. I started working on pronouns with him, saying I, me, you, she, and he and he quit saying his name fifteen times before he got the sentence out. ;) It lasted about a month, I'd guess.


Kim
~ mama to a sweet boy named Harrison ~ 4.6.04

[CiderLogan]

My almost-3-yo loves Dora, and I found that the d-d-d-dora part of the song really helped her learn letters. Now she'll play around with other words, like her name: j-j-j-julia. We tried to go along and now we do little word play games, like we'll say d-d-d-julia, and she laughs and tells her how the correct version goes. Is she singing it in a singsong voice or saying it? If she's singing it and seems to be having a good time with it, I'd say it's ok and it's helping her learn letter sounds.

I am with you on the characters that talk 'baby'ish, like the r/w issue (and also Elmo, who refers to himself in the third person!). Why do they do that on shows that are intended to be educational?!

Jenny
Julia, 8/03
Clara, 5/06

[ajmom]

I don't know about stuttering, but I do know that we've (jokingly) considered bringing a class action suit against Dora for talking so loud! Our children do it now too- it's like she only has 1 pitch and it's ear-blasting. :)

[maestramommy]

yes, that was my very first impression and the only beef with the show. Her voice is just too d*mn loud. The other characters have much nicer voices, so I wonder why they gave her the "ear blaster."

[Melanie]

Well, my Ds went through a stuttering phase and aside from 2-3 lapse in judgement he's never seen Dora. I think his brain was just moving faster than his mouth. Now he's adopted the l-o-n-g pause technique to compensate.

Though I wouldn't hesitate to pull the plug on that show if you were concerned. It's like kiddie crack. Aside from my beefs with the show, they see the Dora crap all over the place and will want it.

[kaylinsmommy2]

As a developmental psychologist, I just wanted to weigh in and clear up a general misconception. Children do not learn language through imitation. So while the Dora theme song and Elmo can be annoying, that just isn't how children learn language. As your examples show, children can choose to copy something they hear/see, but that's very different from the ability to "speak correctly."

While there are a couple competing theories about how language is learned, it is generally accepted that children do not learn language simply through imitation nor from direct instruction. For example, kids go through a phase generalizing grammar rules (such as add -ed to make it past tense) to the exeptions to the rule (such as saying "goed."). This obviously is not learned through imitation (since it is unlikely that your child heard anyone say the word goed), and direct instruction rarely helps the child correct this mistake (e.g. you saying "no, it's 'i went to the store.'"). The phase corrects itself as their language progesses (e.g. perhaps learning about exceptions to rules in general).

Caroline
mommy to Kaylin 6/5/04

http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/bunbunadb20040605_-9_Kaylin+is+now.png[/img][/url]

and one on the way, due 2/26/07