Happily Chatty Toddlers Who Start to Stutter
What happens when kids stutter, and 12 things you can do about it.
Posted October 30, 2016 | Reviewed by Lybi Ma
It’s terribly worrying, but not at all uncommon, for children who start talking early to experience a period of stuttering sometime between 18 months and 4 years of age. It can start all at once, and usually ends just as quickly a few days, weeks, or months later.
With some toddlers, the stuttering (also called stammering) is mild—a few f-f-f-false starts every few sentences. With others, it’s more severe, happening in most sentences, preventing effective communication, and leading to the child’s speaking less frequently.
Some little ones show signs of anxiety about the stuttering, blinking their eyes rapidly, raising the pitch of the voice, or looking worried. Being tired, excited, worried, angry, or upset usually makes stuttering worse.
For little ones with very active brains, their thoughts and ideas can be racing ahead of their physical ability to make the words. Or as one mom wrote, “Intelligent kids’ brains work better than their mouths.”
According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders , stuttering occurs in five to ten percent of all children, most of whom outgrow it. It can occur when a toddler’s desire to speak exceeds their speech and language abilities. When this happens, toddlers can begin to stutter until their spoken language skills have caught up.
And as speech-language pathologist Patricia McAleer-Hamaguchi wrote:
“When your child is in the midst of a great jump in his language skills, it's natural he should have difficulty putting his sentences together in a fluent way. His brain is like a computer, desperately trying to pull up the right words in the right order. While the computer is searching, his mouth may go into a pause (translated: repeat) mode.”
When a child who’s previously been a good talker begins to stutter, many parents blame themselves or worry about other aspects of the child’s life. If that’s you, stop looking for someone or something to blame. Stuttering in toddlers is very rarely caused by environmental stressors. Instead, it is usually a transient phase in the development of language skills. The child who was previously a great talker will most probably become that again before too long.
What You Can Do if Your Toddler Stutters
These strategies will help your child thrive and grow stronger through what could otherwise be a stressful period. In time, the stuttering problem will probably disappear, but if your child is really struggling and the stuttering hasn't improved within three to six months or by the age of three, speak to your doctor about a referral to a speech therapist.
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Dona Matthews, Ph.D. , is a developmental psychologist and the author of four books about children, adolescents and education.
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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.