Stuttering in almost 3 y.o.

[Oregonmother]

DS will turn 3 in about 2 weeks and has recently started stuttering quite frequently. Before this he would occasionally stutter if he was really excited, but he seems to be doing it all the time now. He even gets frustrated sometimes with it and says "mommy I can't talk". It breaks my heart. I just encourage him and don't make a big deal about it and he eventually gets it out. Should this pass? Do we need to seek therapy? He speaks very well for his age and many people have commented on it before this.
We moved to a new home about a month ago, he starts school next week, and I go back to work part-time tomorrow(sniff sniff) so I don't know if he senses something or if the move may have caused this. Any advice? I'm hoping it will pass. Is this common at this age?

[deenass]

My ped asked if DS was stuttering at his 3 year appt. SHe said it is common at this age as their brains are working faster than their mouths can.

[Oregonmother]

Thanks, that's good to hear. We go for our 3 year checkup in about 2 weeks so I'll see what our ped has to say.

[Karenn]

It's really common at this age. My DS started stuttering at 3 1/2 and would say the same thing about not being able to talk. It's really heartbreaking. Something like 85% of kids who stutter will out grow it without therapy, and 95% with therapy. Interestingly, how severely a person stutters in childhood doesn't seem to play a role in whether or not the child will continue to stutter into adulthood.

We opted to pursue speech therapy, mostly because for awhile, DS's stutter was a lot more intense than other preschool stutterers I'd encountered as a teacher. I think it's been really valuable. It's more for me than DS, really. The thereapist does some activities with DS, but she's also spent a lot of time helping me figure out what helps DS.

Here are a few links that helped me most when DS first started to stutter:
[http://www.stutteringhelp.org/Default.aspx?tabid=6]
[http://www.nsastutter.org/subcat/index.php?subid=177]
[http://www.stutteringhelp.org/Default.aspx?tabid=38]

[missym]

Karen listed some great links. I actually posted something similar when Gwen was about your son's age. Her stuttering has improved a lot just with the passage of time, and she only does it now if she's excited or overtired. Hang in there, I know how hard it is to see their frustration!

Missy, mom to Gwen 03/03 and Rebecca 09/05

** Want a penpal for your BBB kiddo? Send an email to:
[email protected] **