lisajoyfulness Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 My nearly 8 year old son (end of July birthday) will often repeat the end of words as he is searching for the next word ("I thought-ought-ought-ought that we should go to the park-ark-ark this afternoon"). This happens particularly if he is in a new situation or if something is difficult. I was assuming that he would just outgrow it...he's always spoken this way. I've recently started googling "stuttering." "Early intervention" is something that seems pretty common, but I'm also reading this on private speech therapist websites. Is this something that we should have evaluated? Is it normal for a bright, energetic kid who thinks faster than his mouth can keep up? Should we wait to see if it will go away? Does any one have experience with this type of thing? Any practical tips to help him overcome it without causing him to be self conscious? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mabelen Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 Have him evaluated. My now 11 yo was evaluated through the school for something related to stuttering when she was in second grade. It was a very mild case and she didn't qualify for any services but the school speech pathologist gave us guidelines to follow with her at home which were helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 I posted about this exact same issue last year: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/518257-should-i-worry-speech-issue/ My son has mostly stopped doing it, but it occasionally comes back. I am chalking it up to an excited boy thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 It is common for a child to repeat a word as a placeholder. Stuttering is different according to my kids pediatrician. My 9 year old has seen two psych for different issues about a year apart and they both said it is common and not stuttering. They heard my boy talking that way when excited. School evaluates for stuttering here as speech therapy is covered through school from 3 years old. The pediatrician can refer as well to an in-network evaluation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 My son did this a lot when he was 4 and continued through about age 5/6. We did get him speech therapy because we were concerned and it got really bad when he was excited (around Christmas, birthday, etc.). The speech therapy did help. A lot of the speech therapy centered around speaking more slowly. There is some advice on how to do this here: http://www.stutteringhelp.org/7-tips-talking-your-child-0 There is actually more than one form of stuttering according to the speech therapist we saw. The one you see depicted in the movies is a type of blocking--they can't get the sound out. Another is the repeating which is what your son does. There is also a prolongation of sounds which is considered stuttering. According to this flyer, it is the quantity of the repeating that makes it a concern. That is the issue my son had. http://www.stutteringhelp.org/if-you-think-your-child-stuttering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 Listening in, as DS does this also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UCF612 Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 My almost 8 year old does this as well. I thought it was normal but I'm not sure now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bratsche Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 My almost 8 year old does this, too. Over the last 2 years it's definitely gotten better, but comes back when she's really excited about something or thinking intensely. She tends to repeat whole words sometimes. For instance, she'll get my attention, start to say what she intended, then jump back to Mom! and start all over. I've been chalking it up to mind and mouth not being quite in sync, but perhaps I should have her evaluated. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanDiegoMom Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 My 9 yo does this- we always referred to it as the "four syllables per vowel" habit. I've been trying to have her think about what she is going to say before she starts- she seems to be thinking mid-sentence so she just draws everything out while her brain catches up. But because she only does it when she's trying to explain long winded things (like what just happened in minecraft) and not when she's just giving simple directions or answering questions, I assumed it was something she would grow out of. I hope. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoundAbout Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 My 8 year old does this as well. He is extremely bright and energetic, and as others have mentioned it is only when he's trying to explain more complicated ideas or thinking about something. It never happens when he's just making simple requests or talking about every day things. It comes and goes but seems to happen more before a big developmental leap. I have brought it up with pediatricians and none have seemed concerned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 My 8 year old does this as well. Also a boy, about exactly a year older than your son. He is outgrowing it slowly. He mostly does it now when he's excited or nervous. It's like his mouth goes faster than his brain and he repeats the place holder sounds until his brain catches up. Reminding him to slow down and think about what he wants to say before he says it has helped the most. ETA: My cousin does special ed and she pointed out to me many years ago my cousin (her daughter) doing that. She said it is normal and kids outgrow it. She's where I got the idea to remind my son to slow down and think first. My cousin's daughter is now 26 and hasn't done the extra sound placeholders in many years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 It is the frequency that makes it a concern, and if it recurs frequently and becomes worse, I think. The links I provided above have some useful information for parents in discerning when it is an issue. For my son (this was many years ago) they counted how many repetitions he had in a certain number of minutes. At his worst, it could be upwards of 15 in a couple of minutes. "Mom-om-om-om-om-om-y can I play-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay tra-a-a-a-a-ins?" He was only four so at first we wrote it off as him being young, but when it got really bad and took him minutes to get a sentence out, we had him evaluated and they confirmed the stutter. Honestly I don't think the "therapy" for my son was much more than getting him to speak slowly, engaging him in "slower" conversations and learning how to take turns when speaking. I am not sure what they would do with an eight year old but my guess is that just practicing taking turns and speaking slowly would help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisajoyfulness Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 Thanks for the input. Definitely think we'll try having him slow down a little when he's talking and see if that helps. I appreciate the feedback! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldilocks Posted May 19, 2015 Share Posted May 19, 2015 My 8 yo ds used to do this. Studying for the spelling bee is how it ended. In the spelling bee I was worried that he would repeat his letters and it would be considered spelled incorrectly. While quzzing him I would gently point it out everytime he repeated a letter when he spelled the word. If he repeated a letter we would not go back and re-do the word, just move on to the next one.(The focus was on the spelling bee, not the speech issue.) No mention was ever made of his repeated syllables in regular conversation, but gradually that faded away until your post made me realize that we no longer have this issue! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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