Did I S-s-s-stutter

"W-w-w-w-what doin', Mama?"

"W-w-w-want somepin' to eat, Daddy."

"W-w-w-wwwww-where MimiPapa?"

This started nearly two weeks ago. Actually, it started on our last morning at Cow Camp. She just woke up stuttering, mostly repeating the first sounds in wh-questions (e.g. who, what, where, when, why). This was right on the tail of a neighbor inquiring about the exact same thing with her 2.5 year old son, Alan, with me assuring her it was totally fine - "yeah, it's developmentally typical ... no need to worry ..." - and providing her with web links for additional information. It's always no big deal when it's happening to someone else's kid, amiright?

Alex isn't bothered by the speech pattern, even referring to it as "cute," but still blames Alan for the Bean's sudden onset (sorry little man, it's not your fault). If we want to play the Blame Game, then I blame Alex. According to his mom, he stuttered as a young child and was even in speech therapy with Dr. Bob for a bit. Family history of speech-language difficulties is one of the main risk factors for a stuttering disorder. Good thing she's a girl, though, since that lowers her theroretical risk.

Even though I'm a speech path and I know that dysfluency at this age can be developmentally normal, I feel like "what if it's actually a problem?" I cringe a little bit every time she starts a sentence with a stammer, and have to practically put my hand over my mouth to resist imitating her or telling her to just spit it out. Two of the very most wrong things you could do, for the record.

According to ASHA (the national professional and credentialing organization for audiologists and speech-language pathologists), signs of stuttering include observing a child to struggle to say sounds or words, repetition of the first sounds of words ("k-k-k-kick the blue ball"), pausing frequently during speech, and stretching sounds out ("mmmmmilk, please").

But how can we differentiate between developmental dysfluency and early signs of an actual speech disorder? It's not so easy. There's no definitive test to say "yes, your kid will have a speech disorder," or "no, this it totally normal and your kid will grow out of it." Unfortunately.

During early speech/language development, like from 2 to 3 years old, it's normal for your kid's speech to sound funny, whether it's a lisp (e.g. the /th/ sound instead of the /s/ sound, as in "I thought I thaw a puthy tat"), difficulty with the /r/ sound (e.g. "wabbit"), transposing sounds or parts of words (e.g. "pasgetti" instead of spaghetti, or "aminal" instead of animal, or "goos" instead of school, as is the case with the Bean), or repeating words or sounds (as in the Bean's new stutter). There are a million other speech/language "errors" your kid can make at this stage, most of what's usually considered to be normal.

Theoretically, between the ages of 1.5 and 7 years, it's normal for a child to go through periods of speech dysfluency. Early on, it will be the repetition of sounds, syllables, and words, usually at the beginning of a sentence. Later, it will look more like repetition of whole words or phrases, or more pauses and fillers. Kids tend to have more difficulty with their speech when they are excited, upset or tired, or when asking or answering questions. Most kids with normal, developmental disfluencies are unaware of the changes in their speech patterns, exhibiting no signs of surprise or frustration. Other experts talk about fluency it terms of "emerging," as in, all children have "emerging speech," and thus "emerging fluency." The difficulty is distinguishing "emerging" or normal/typical dysfluency from "early signs of stuttering."

In an article posted to ASHA by an expert in stuttering, this chart can be helpful in deciphering early signs of a potential speech disorder.:

Normal Disfluency (less risk):
Phrase repetition
Interjections
Revisions
Multi-syllabic whole word repetitions
No tension or struggle
No secondary behaviors
No negative reactions or frustration
No family history

Stuttering (higher risk):
Syllable repetitions, prolongations, blocks
Tension/struggle (changes in pitch or loudness)
Secondary behaviors
Negative reaction/frustration
Family history

And then there are the more demographic-based risk factors such as gender (boys are more likely to have a speech disroder), time since the stuttering began (>6 months is correlated with a higher risk), age it began (stuttering that starts at >3.5 years are at a higher risk), and overall speech and language skills.

So your kid starting stuttering, what's the best thing to do? First and foremost, trust your gut. If you are genuinely concerned that your child has a speech disorder, or you have a family history, talk to your pediatrician or seek out a speech-language pathologist. But statistically speaking, more likely than not the speech patterns are part of typical development. Still, it's important that you, (1) not draw too much attention to the stuttering; (2) give your child time to talk and not interrupt; and (3) model fluent, "normal," speech patterns.

The other important thing to keep in mind, is that when it comes to speech and language, there is SUCH a broad range of normal for development, so just because your child isn't speaking exactly like the  kid next door doesn't mean there is anything wrong with him or her.

Now excuse me while I go and mimic my daughter saying "w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-why goin' to work now, Mama?"

P.S. And for your viewing/listening pleasure, anyone else remember and love this song from '99 or 2000?