Thursday, September 25, 2008

stuttering

Today when I picked Caroline up from school her teacher asked me if Caroline stuttered at home. I told her that she does and that it mostly happens when she is excited, in a large group of kids or when she is in a hurry. Her teacher nodded in agreement and said that is when she normally does it at school. Then her teacher said "if you need any help with that, just let me know". I said, "okay, thanks and have a great weekend".

I got to the van and the "Bad Mommy" dialogue started to play in my head. You know what I am talking about, the "maybe I need to have her evaluated by a speech therapist", "why have I not done anything about this before", "oh my gosh, it must be really bad if her teacher said if I needed help with that", "what kind of mother am I", "you need to pay more attention to Caroline and her needs", "you need to get it together", "this is your job!!", etc.

Next week when Ms. Patti comes for Will's speech therapy, I am going to ask her if she thinks I need to have Caroline evaluated. She has been around Caroline when she has done the stuttering, I have even asked her about it before. At that time, she just thought it was a phase that Caroline was going through. Kind of one of those things where her brain was working faster than her mouth (if that is even possible :-).

Has anyone else's kids stuttered at this age (4-5 years old)? Did they grow out of it? Did they require therapy?

Thanks ya'll!

4 comments:

Our Journey said...

I'm right there with you! My daughter is almost 3 and has started stuttering horribly! She had way above average speech before this started. I've been going back and forth about what to do and just set her up for an eval, just to ease my mind! It may be a normal childhood thing, but if not I don't want to feel like I did nothing. As the days go on she is getting worse, I even ended up in tears last night because of it! :(

Get an eval, ease your mind and your heart :)

Mama G said...

Hey Myssie,
I had a bad stuttering problem when I was right around five. I was like Caroline and Gracie (believe it or not) and I was a constant talker. My words came out faster than my brain could handle and that resulted in a stutter. My parents had me work with a speech therapist and I remembered it being helpful as she taught me to slow my brain and mouch down and control what I was trying to get out. It may be worth a try just if it teaches Caroline how to slow down her thought process. She's doing great though, and you're doing great, she's one lucky girl to have you for her mommy!

Anxious AF said...

An eval certainly wont hurt anything. I say get one and it will probably ease your mind, and they will say not to worry. If it comes down to her needing help, then you will be glad you did.

My friends son stuttered, and just stopped, I think he was 3. It probably lasted 6 months.

Queen said...

i remember stuttering when i was very young, if i got overly upset about something. my parents let it be and it went away on it's own...i don't remember exactly when, but it was early.....prior to second or third grade i guess? my mom used to tell me to take 3 deep breaths then try again. apparently it worked :) (..and a grain of salt, seeing as i'm not a speech therapist or parent!)

if you have a giant foods grocery store near you, you can do the glade catalina deal there. same parent company as stop and shop :)

have a great day!
~beth