Deciding On Therapy
Signs You Should Seek Help For Your Toddler or Preschooler Who Has Started Stuttering
Deciding when to start therapy for a toddler or preschooler who has just started stuttering can be challenging. Many people, including some pediatricians, still recommend a wait and see approach. Though there’s some truth to this thinking – many children will demonstrate some disfluencies in their speech, and many of those will outgrow it – we’re still not 100% sure which children will continue to stutter and may need treatment.
Here are a few signs that it might be a good time to seek a professional opinion:
1. There’s a family history
We know that there’s a genetic link to stuttering, and many people who stutter have family members who do too. Though having a family history doesn’t guarantee your child will continue to stutter, it’s still a good reason for early monitoring and possibly implementing a treatment plan a bit earlier.
2. Presence of tension
Disfluencies in toddlers and preschoolers tend to be mild and easy, consisting of repeated sounds or words that flow without too much effort. If you notice your child struggling to force the words out, needing to “push”, tensing their face, or straining, it might be time to seek if some strategies can help.
3. Stuttering longer than 6 months
As a general rule, we want to see your child if they have been stuttering for more than six months. Even if you’ve been advised a wait-and-see approach, this is the time when we want an evaluation. This doesn’t automatically mean therapy, but it’s best to get a professional opinion at this time.
4. Your child is having big reactions towards their stuttering
It’s normal for children to react to their stuttering in one way or another. But if your child is having strong emotions or expressing negative thoughts about speaking, and it’s affecting their well-being or how much they participate in speaking situations, it’s best to get help.
5. You’re stressed about your child’s stuttering
If you feel anxious about your child’s stuttering, that’s enough of a reason to seek an evaluation. I’m a big advocate for “the earlier, the better”, and I believe parents shouldn’t have to sit with unnecessary worry. Even if the recommendation is to monitor, you’ll have a clear baseline to compare against down the road.
In addition, many of the strategies we use in early stuttering treatment supports overall communication development, so you may leave the evaluation with more ideas on how to best support your child, regardless if they continue to stutter.
Though these signs don’t always point to a diagnosis (again, we can’t tell with 100% certainty which children will continue to stutter), they’re helpful indicators of when you might consider getting a professional opinion. If any of these sound familiar, feel free to reach out and we can go over some of your concerns.