A stuttering issue

[oregonjen]

My son is 6 and is stuttering. He tends to repeat words like: but, then, what, if, etc. His school speech therapist is not alarmed and told us it's okay. He is bilingual learning Japanese and English and we've been told that is normal. Anyone with children who stuttered and grew out of it?

[phylny]

1. Is he dysfluent in both languages? n/t

[oregonjen]

2. Actually, no

He speaks English fluently and Japanese a little bit. His listening skills in Japanese are much better than speaking. Daddy speaks Japanese and I speak English to him. So, the stuttering is only English. If he spoke Japanese more, I would be able to tell.

[phylny]

3. Ask the SLP specifically why she's not concerned if she hasn't

already told you.

She may say that he's only dysfluent once in a while, or that he's only dysfluent when he's tired. On the other hand, she may not think he'd qualify for services in school, but that doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't have a disorder.

In public school, to qualify for services, you must have a disability according to IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). In school, one of the many criteria that they look at is if there is a disability that's affecting the student in school. The student's academic progress or social interactions must be affected before a child would qualify for services.

For instance, I've worked with children who are dysfluent and they are on the honor roll, participate in class, and aren't affected socially. In that case, there is no "disability" even though there may be a speech-language disorder. I've also worked with kids (privately) who are fine at school, but dysfluent at home.

Things to look for:

If your child is aware of his dysfluency, and is frustrated by it, if he's doing things physically to try to break out of the dysfluency (such as blinking his eyes, moving a body part, stamping his foot), or if his dysfluency is ridiculed by others or keeping him from participating in school, then I would be concerned. You may ask for a child study meeting at school if your concerns continue, or see if your insurance would cover an evaluation by a speech-language pathologist. But certainly, talk to the school SLP if you didn't get a clear reason why she's not concerned. She may well be right, and there's no reason to spend money if you don't need to.

Also, keep track of when he's dysfluent, if he's repeating part word or the whole word, and how many times. Here are two of many different patterns of stuttering:

Part word (but): b-b-b-but
Whole word: But-but-but

One other thought - there's a difference between stuttering and something called cluttering, fyi. Two resources for you:

http://www.stuttersfa.org/default.htm
http://kidshealth.org/teen/diseases_conditions/sight/speech_disorders.html

In the meantime, slow down your rate of speech and have him do the same. Sometimes that helps.

[oregonjen]

4. Thank you for your thoughtful reply

I will read the links you gave me. I don't know what cluttering is, so I will study up on it. He stutters whole words and both the teacher and speech therapist have noticed. The anxiety I have is as he grows, will others make fun of him or will the stuttering go away on its own. The speech therapist said she will check in on him in a couple of months to see how he is doing. He is on her "watch list."

I do want to address it now, but not make a huge issue about it in front of him.

Thanks again. :hi:

[phylny]

5. My pleasure.

With regard to whether or not it will go away, or whether people will make fun of him, there's no way to know.

If the SLP has him in her watch list, that's great.

Good luck.

[Sabriel]

6. My 3 y.o. stutters on and off

He was on for months and then off for a couple. He's back at it again right now. Particularly "but." We don't make a big deal of it, and no one else does either. His record (I counted once) is 18 "but"s.

Sabriel