Stuttering and Speech Problems

   As children develop language between age 2 and age 5, a frequent concern of parents is stuttering. The most common form of stuttering is word stuttering – repeating the first word of the sentence before getting the sentence out: “Mom…Mom…Mom… I’m hungry”. This is normal and probably comes from the child’s brain going faster than his mouth. It usually resolves itself without any treatment. Parents should just relax and give the child time to get out whatever he is trying to say.

     True stuttering is letter stuttering – the first letter of a word is repeated: “M…M…M…Mom, I’m hungry”. This kind of stuttering is more common in males, seems to run in families and needs to be treated by a speech therapist.

     Delay in speech development can have many causes. If a child is not responding to parent’s speech by 4 months, he should be evaluated for possible hearing loss. The most common reason for temporary hearing loss is fluid in the middle ear caused by recurrent ear infection. This usually occurs after 1 year of age and is reversed when the infections stop or the fluid is eliminated.

     A child who does not respond normally to parent’s speech or does not develop language use by 18 months should also be evaluated for developmental delay or autism.  Problems pronouncing words can be associated with cerebral palsy, stroke or brain tumor.

     There are many categories of speech and language problems: articulation disorders, language disorders, expressive disorders and receptive disorders. Parents who have concerns about their child’s speech problems should see a speech therapist.