Joanna Fortune: My child has a stammer — what can I do to help?

Sometimes it seems like a toddler's thoughts are moving faster than their capacity to string words together and they can 'trip' over the words

Wed, 26 Jul, 2023 - 07:51

Child psychotherapist Dr Joanna Fortune

About two months ago, my three-year-old daughter developed a mild stammer. When I ask her to slow down, the stammer disappears; otherwise, she can find it difficult to get the words out. I had a stammer growing up but grew out of it. Is there something I can do to help her?

Note: I am not a Speech and Language Therapist so if you are concerned beyond how I answer your question please seek immediate referral for a speech and language assessment.

Stuttering or stammering is not uncommon in children between the ages of 2-5 years old as they are learning more words and trying to link their thoughts with stringing words together. Sometimes their thoughts can seem like they are moving faster than their capacity to string those words together has developed and they might seemingly trip over the words or even stammer mildly as you describe.

So what you describe could very well be a developmental disfluency in her emerging speech and language skills but if it were to linger for 3-6 months or get worse than it currently is I would strongly advise that you seek referral to your local Speech and Language Therapy services via your Public Health nurse.

I imagine your child has either recently had their developmental check or might be due one shortly in which case you should mention this to the public health nurse or the area medical officer, depending on who is conducting the assessment with you.

I would also suggest that you observe how and when she is stuttering. For example, if she is stuttering at the start of a word, is she repeating a syllable 2-3 times (d-d-dog) or is it four or more times (d-d-d-d-d-dog).

Joanna Fortune , child psychotherapist and author. Photograph Moya Nolan

Or maybe you observe her having to engage significant effort when trying to speak or shape her words to the point that she may even start to avoid speaking.

Perhaps her stuttering is pervasive across the entire day, every day rather than being most pronounced when she might be tired, excited, scared. You may even notice that she is blinking or shifting her gaze while stuttering.

If this does describe your daughter's stuttering then I would contact your local public health nurse and/or GP for referral for an assessment without further delay.

In the meantime, I would advocate that you slow down your own speech if you happen to be a fast-talker and that you ensure that you are slowing down your interactions with her in general. Toddlers move at a different pace to us adults and so much about the world around them is new, interesting, and distracting. If we can reduce the time demands on them it can alleviate some of the pressure to get things done/said quickly.

Offer a supportive response: "Your words are in such a rush today, let’s take a breath together and you can start over and try that again."

Try not to make a big deal of her stuttering and come to her eye level, take her hands in yours and gently rub the backs of her hands or sway them slowly side to side, keeping your facial muscles calm and relaxed, and breathe — showing her that you are not in a rush and are interested in what she has to say.