Many toddlers and preschool age children stutter as they are learning to talk, and although many parents worry about it, most of these children will grow out of stuttering and will have normal speech as they get older. Since most of these children don’t stutter as adults, this normal stage of speech development is usually referred to as pseudo stuttering or as a normal dysfluency.
As children learn to talk, they may repeat certain sounds, stumble on or mispronounce words, hesitate between words, substitute sounds for each other, and be unable to say some sounds. Children with a normal dysfluency usually have brief repetitions of some sounds and syllables or short words. The stuttering usually comes and goes and is most noticeable when your child is excited, stressed or overly tired, but the child usually doesn’t notice or have any reaction to his behaviour.
It is not usually known what causes some children to stutter, but it does seem to be genetic and run in some families, and a child is more likely to stutter if a parent also stutters. Stuttering can also occur in children who are under a lot of stress, for example, after starting a new day care, moving, birth of a new sibling, etc. Stuttering is also more common in boys.
Stuttering is usually not a concern, if it doesn’t persist for more than two to three months or at least gradually improves during that time period. Until it does go away by itself, some steps you can take to help your child, include:
- Don’t correct or interrupt him/her when he/she is talking and ask others not to correct him/her either.
- Don’t ask him/her to repeat himself/herself or tell him/her to slow down.
- Don’t make him/her practise saying certain words or sounds.
- Be sure to talk to your child slowly and clearly and give him/her the time he/she needs to finish what he/she is trying to say.
- Talk to your child a lot by discussing his/her day, narrating out loud the things you are doing and reading books.
- Try to minimize stress or situations that make the stuttering worse.
