Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

So DD is going to turn 3 in june. She never has had any speech issues, in fact she is a real chatterbox. Over the past week or so we have noticed she is stuttering significantly.

She never did before and now she has begun this

It isn't with every sentence and its not all the time, but it is a lot and way more that I have ever noticed. It is the first word/sound of whatever she is trying to say that she will stutter then the remaining sentence comes out fine.

I didnt call the dr yet, was giving it a little more time.

Any advice in the meantime....do they grow out of this? What can I do? Should I be very worried???

Re: Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

My son has been stuttering on and off (I thought maybe his brain was just in overdrive he seems a little overwhelmed when he is trying to get his sentences out and in my hubby's family my DH, my BIL and DH grandfather stutters on and off not constant) DS is 3 1/2 and his teacher told me she was concerned and I should have him evaluated. I had to bring DS to the Dr and told her what the teacher said and what we have experienced ~ I will be bringing him soon to be evaluated as well as getting his hearing checked. My son's Dr. said something it can be linked together. Good Luck ~ Maybe call your Dr.

Re: Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

i'm a speech therapist... and this sounds very normal!!
we usually don't worry about stuttering until the kids are like 6 or so.
as toddlers, they're still such new talkers... their brain works faster than their mouths sometimes. even though she has been speaking well, she still is constantly learning new words and how to put them together- so it changes a lot.
As long as she doesn't seemed too bothered by it, I wouldn't worry about it. just try to keep everything as relaxed as you can. don't make her say things over or finish her sentences for her. just give her time to get out what she wants to say.
if it seems to get a lot worse then I would worry. But from what you're saying, it sounds like its just normal stuttering for her age

Re: Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

Im grateful for the speech therapist answer.

I noticed AJ was hard core stuttering last week. She could NOT get a sentence going without saying one word like 10plus times. It was sudden and very noticable. We tried to tell her to 'slow down' and 'think first'. But she'd even stutter um, um, um, um, um, um, Ok I'll try. She kept doing it a few days later so Thursday.......

I'm probably going to fry for this but......

I asked her "who talks like that, AJ?"

Just asked. My hubby looked at me liked "Why would you ask that?"

Her answer: David
Me: Oh David in school talks like that
Her: yes
Me: Does anyone try to talk like him?
Her: yes, Sara (another student) does but Ms. XX (teacher) said that's not nice
Me: She's right. Thats not nice. Please slow down when you talk ok?

(all said without any noticable stuttering)

All weekend she reverted back to just standard stuttering (I think of it as standard, often but not every single sentence)

I dont mind stuttering since I stuttered as a kid. But I would hate for her to be doing it BECAUSE another child is doing it. I dont know why I thought to ask her that. But I will continue to tell her its not right that to talk like him. Because that's HIS way of talking and she needs to learn her own way of talking. She asked me why he talks that way and I said "because he can" which is her answer for why she does stuff. Ironically she accepted that as an answer.

I swear the puzzles we play to get through to our kids.

Message edited 4/9/2012 5:28:54 PM.

Re: Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

Normal. My mom is a speech pathologist, and her favorite phrase is "comprehension exceeds expression." Stuttering is super common in toddlers, esp ones that are very bright. They literally think faster than they can speak. Get it checked out if you're worried, but it'll probably correct itself soon.

Re: Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

I posted the same t hing a while back. I believe it's just when a child is trying to say so much more, and faster, that they stutter. My DD did that for a few days, then stopped. Now does it again sometimes when she is trying to talk fast. Everyone has reassured me that it's pretty normal when they are learning to talk and say more.

Re: Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

Yep, my 4.5 year old stuttered for a good year and now she has grown out of it!

Re: Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

Posted by TheDivineMrsM

Normal. My mom is a speech pathologist, and her favorite phrase is "comprehension exceeds expression." Stuttering is super common in toddlers, esp ones that are very bright. They literally think faster than they can speak. Get it checked out if you're worried, but it'll probably correct itself soon.

Re: Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

DD stumbles on her words sometimes. i can literally tell she is thinking faster than the words can get out of her mouth.

Re: Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

Posted by TheDivineMrsM

Normal. My mom is a speech pathologist, and her favorite phrase is "comprehension exceeds expression." Stuttering is super common in toddlers, esp ones that are very bright. They literally think faster than they can speak. Get it checked out if you're worried, but it'll probably correct itself soon.

Re: Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

Normal! My 2nd son started this at 2.5 yrs old. He was an early talker and very articulate for his age and out of nowhere it started. Very bad at times but then it would go away for months. It usually occurs for him when he starts hitting speech milestones as if his brain and mouth weren't workign together right! At that time, he started putting 2-3 sentences together and out of nowhere started stuttering. It came on and off over the next year or even two. He is 4.5 and barely ever does it now. Here and there it pops up and when it does - he laughs at it. I remember my older son was in speech therapy for articulation at that time it started and when he came stuttering even the speech therapist was shocked because prior to that she always commented on how well he spoke and how it came out of nowhere! She told me it was normal but just to watch it and see if it goes away with time or gets worse. Luckily - it would just come and go.

Re: Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

My 3 year old does this too. I think her brain is just going faster than her mouth - she can't get the words out fast enough.

Re: Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

Re: Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

Posted by julz33

Posted by TheDivineMrsM

Normal. My mom is a speech pathologist, and her favorite phrase is "comprehension exceeds expression." Stuttering is super common in toddlers, esp ones that are very bright. They literally think faster than they can speak. Get it checked out if you're worried, but it'll probably correct itself soon.

my 3 yr old nephew was started stuttering out of the blue at age 3 too, and what the poster wrote above is what his doctor said.

Re: Stuttering in a toddler- Anyone experience this?

Posted by Crystan6-7-8

Posted by TheDivineMrsM

Normal. My mom is a speech pathologist, and her favorite phrase is "comprehension exceeds expression." Stuttering is super common in toddlers, esp ones that are very bright. They literally think faster than they can speak. Get it checked out if you're worried, but it'll probably correct itself soon.

Love that saying


See Tiff all Speech specialists saying the same thing. I wouldn't worry!