Why has my son suddenly started stuttering?

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sept232000 asks:

My son will be three in September. He is very active and bright. Within the last two weeks he has began to stutter. I slow him down and have him to repeat the sentence and I can understand him better. I initially thought he was just trying to sound new words but then normal conversations began to be a challenge for him. I am gloing to speak with his pediatrician to see if she can refer me to a speech therapist. Any words of advice? It appeared overnite and my husband and I are now dumbfounded as to what may have happened to trigger it.

In Topics: Speech and language issues

> 60 days ago

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Expert

Wayne Yankus

Apr 14, 2008

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What the Expert Says:

There is a difference between stuttering and other speech problems. You are doing the right thing by going to your pediatrician and discussing the issue.

True stuttering occurs in only 1% of all children, but fluency and articulation can be a problem up to the age of 5--more in boys than girls.

Don't ask your child to repeat or start over rather help him relax by reaffirming that you will understand him.

Do get help from a speech therapist.

Wayne Yankus, MD, FAAP
expert panelist: pediatrics

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Additional Answers (1)

Edu-Katherine writes:

Hi Sept,

Seeing your doctor at this point is a great idea. We do have some interesting articles on stuttering available to you, if you go to the search function at the top of the page and type in "stuttering". Here is one of the articles with some tips that you might find helpful.

http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Ed_Stuttering_Preschool/

Please let us know how it goes. There are probably a lot of parents just like you who are going through something similar.

Edu-Katherine
Community Team

> 60 days ago

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