Stuttering

[rainbowmama]

I have a kid who just started speech therapy. We had concerns about stuttering earlier in childhood, but he seemed to outgrow it. However, now that he has started speech therapy, it seems to have come back, especially when working on his speech homework. I plan to ask the speech therapist about this, but is this normal? I really think that his speech sounded more normal with the articulation errors than it does with the stutter coming from focusing on correcting the articulation errors!

[Arcadia]

The stress from trying to say the right words did make it seem like DS11 was stuttering when he was 8 and under. When he was observed by different people (teachers, pediatricians, psychologists), it was confirmed that he “stutter†only when he focus on his speech. When he was talking nonsense with his brother or anyone else, he talk very smoothly.

[sbgrace]

My son seemed to me to stutter for a while in speech therapy. The therapist asked if we had a family history, and wasn't concerned/wait and see. It went away in less than 6 months I believe. I think it was nervousness. 

[rainbowmama]

The stuttering was worse today, and I'm kind of freaking out about it. We don't see the SLP until next week: they aren't even open until next week. The worst was during Thanksgiving dinner: maybe it was feeling nervous about talking in front of relatives we don't normally see now that he's more aware of his speech. I don't know, but I'd say that he stuttered around 5% of his words. It was better when we got home and was just playing with a sibling (though worse when talking to me but not as bad as during dinner). I'm reading some pretty scary things on the internet about how school aged children are much less likely to recover from stuttering. My ped office is open this weekend: should I call?

[GoodGrief]

My daughter's dysfluency did seem to come and go. When she was anxious, it often became more prominent. Is it possible that he is feeling some anxiety about the therapy, particularly if it is a new thing?

 

Even now as an adult, she will have times where stuttering is a pronounced if she is stressed about something.

Edited November 24, 2017 by GoodGrief

[hellen]

My son's stutter was worst around 4th grade. He did speech therapy for a while that didn't seem terribly effective. The speech therapist was great. It was my son that didn't put much effort into incorporating the techniques. At its peak, his stutter was way worse than your son's stutter. Now in 7th grade, I can't remember the last time he stuttered.

 

His stutter started around 1st grade. In 3rd grade, it worsened. In 4th grade, his stuttering was considered severe. By 5th grade, it started decreasing. People around him noticed a reduction. In 6th grade, he was stuttering less than he did as a 1st grader. He would go weeks without stuttering. At this point, he hasn't stuttered in months.

[Laura Corin]

My son's stutter peaked around age 10.  He had some speech therapy but I don't know if it was just time that made the difference.  It's years since he stuttered now.

[rainbowmama]

My daughter's dysfluency did seem to come and go. When she was anxious, it often became more prominent. Is it possible that he is feeling some anxiety about the therapy, particularly if it is a new thing?

 

Even now as an adult, she will have times where stuttering is a pronounced if she is stressed about something.

 

I really fear the stuttering will persist into adulthood. This kid hopes to be a lawyer when he grows up, and of course that's likely to change, but it breaks my heart to think that he might not due to stuttering

[rainbowmama]

Thanks Laura and Helen for sharing about your kids. His stuttering is minimal, no more than most people's this morning, even though I can hear efforts around his articulation goals, so I feel a little better

[Lecka]

Okay... my older son used to do what I would call stuttering. But it wasn't stuttering, it was cluttering, according to speech therapists.

 

He also made more mistakes with articulation goals, and would even start to mess up ones he had used to do better. It was "two steps forward one step back." According to the speech therapist this is a part of him self-correcting and a part of him having to be conscious to use the correct sound and learn to self-correct. He had goals for self-correcting too at a certain point.

 

Anyway -- my advice is ask the speech therapist. For my son's situation the speech therapist was very encouraging that it was a part of the process for him.

 

But I think cluttering is a separate thing, too.

 

He is really doing fine now, too. He would not be held back in any field.

Edited November 24, 2017 by Lecka

[NormaElle]

People who stutter can certainly be attorneys! Stuttering is not a death sentence.

 

I know it's hard but PLEASE try not to panic. Even if you aren't panicking in front of your son, he may be picking up on it. And that can make the stuttering worse.

 

He's in speech therapy. You can address this and deal with it!

[Lecka]

Oh, I agree with that too! My MIL is for some reason very picky about my son's speech -- but really it just is not something that is holding him back in life at all, even though he does sometimes still talk too fast. But it is just one thing about him, really.

 

But most people are nice people, and not so picky. Most people are not so.... whatever the word would be. Maybe superficial. But it's not even like it is a big deal, he does fine.

[rainbowmama]

People who stutter can certainly be attorneys! Stuttering is not a death sentence.

 

I know it's hard but PLEASE try not to panic. Even if you aren't panicking in front of your son, he may be picking up on it. And that can make the stuttering worse.

 

He's in speech therapy. You can address this and deal with it!

 

I worry that he's picking up on my anxiety. He definitely stutters more with me than his siblings. Maybe we should drop the homework until we talk to the therapist, because both his stutter and my anxiety are the worst during this.

[Lecka]

I would drop the homework for now.

 

Sure a lot of kids and moms can do this homework and it works for them.

 

But it's how it's going for you and your son that matters.

 

My son had a really hard time feeling like I found fault with his speech and I did get advice from speech therapists not to correct him, only model correct usage but not ask him to repeat.

 

Other people might be able to ask their kids to repeat or work with them more, with no problem.

 

So I would feel like a loser about that.

 

But really kids just have different personalities! And also my son had more severe articulation difficulties than some kids.

 

My daughter was in speech therapy for a year and it was a different experience with her, and really it was just easy and non-stressful for her, but she also had much less to work on, and she never got frustrated like my older son did.

Edited November 24, 2017 by Lecka

[2squared]

My sons stutter is tripped by anxiety. Asking him to repeat what he says is the opposite of what should be done. When he is in stuttering mode, we slow our pace of conversation down.

 

When my son stutters, he isn't making a mistake that needs to be corrected. He is feeling stressed and his speech gets disconnected. He knows what he wants to say, but he can't get it out fluently. That's why slowing the pace down is important - it gives him time to use his speech therapy strategies.

 

Like others have posted, his stutter isnt noticeable now at 13yo. I hear it when he goes through stressful periods, but few people would be able to identify him as a stutterer unless they spend significant time with him. Even then, they may only notice it subconsciously.

 

My son was 65% disfluent at his worst in 2nd/3rd grade. He will always have a stutter, but he is 95%+ fluent most days now. I remember how scared I was for him, and I am so very, very glad to be on this side of that issue. I probably should mention that we also found meds to help with his anxiety. Speech therapy and meds were a successful combination.