This is under the category of something I just had to throw out to the void to keep from screaming in frustration.
My son Tyler who is 8 1/2 yrs old started stuttering almost 4 weeks ago. His dad has been in Honduras for almost 10 months so I didn't think that could be the trigger. He is the same as always except for the stuttering. It started with a word here and there and never when he would read. Now he stutters during every conversation and sometimes takes a minute to get a word out.
He has to read 90 wpm to go to 3rd grade and now I am concerned about his being held back. That is premature I know- he will be tested next week by the speech teacher and we can go from there. The speech teacher told me since he is over 7yrs of age he is classified differently (?) than childhood stutterers.
I wonder if I stressed him out with our nightly reading assignments since I was concerned about the wpm requirement. I can find no reason this started other than the stress of being in a new state/school/house and my hubby being gone. We have been here for 10 months so I would have thought if it is stress it would have started sooner. I just found out from my mother-in-law that all 5 cousins in PA go to speech and one niece who is 4yrs old started stuttering recently. (No history of speech problems on my side.)
Anybody going through this with their kids? Sometimes I want to cry when I see him struggle to read the animal or dinosaur books he loves and get so frustrated he just puts them aside. His friends are being nice about it and his teacher spoke to the class and nobody has teased him yet.
I am so glad for this forum- I feel better just getting some of this out.
Angel
"I can fix a bad page, but I can't fix a blank one." Nora Roberts
www.angelinabarbin.blogspot.com
RE: MY SON STARTED STUTTERING
At the outset I want to reassure you that I am not out to dip into your family's personal business -- I just want to point a few things out for you to think about.Has anything traumatic/stressful/lifechanging happened to him recently? One of these days I will blog about my family's history. Not only did we "get out" of Ireland during the Troubles (or snuck out, rather), but Mental Illness, Alcoholism, Drug Addiction, and Spousal Abuse is not uncommon among our clan. The "Man" I called Gramps is really an Uncle (but he was in a home for the mentally-ill) he witnessed my REAL Grandfather (Chief-of-Police), in a drunken stupor, assuse the woman that was my true grandmother of being a tart, picking up a police-rifle off the buffet in the Dining Room, and shooting her down, and killing her, in cold blood (with two Aunts and my Daddy also witnessing the crime). In reality my Uncle & Aunt were my Gramps & Gran (for they took all the kids in). Gramps never got over what he witnessed. It fried his brain to watch his sister get murdered before his eyes. To the point to when the home would "let him out" to be with us (that's just how they did it in those days) he had much trouble speaking. Only because I knew Gramps and was familiar with his vocal rhythyms, etc., could I understand what he was saying. I "lost my mind" in Iraq, and one of my most embarassing moments was visiting with my folks while on furlough, and some kid, filling up his bicycle tire down the street overfilled it and popped it. I jumped off my Lawn Chair on the porch and hit the ground, slithering stealthily so I could sneak up on the enemy! What me point is, me love, is that there will be a cause and effect! The stuttering MAY be "just nothing" and we're getting excited for normality. On the other hand, something may have happened and it's manifestation is the stuttering. Keep us informed so that we can be the appropropriate help to you both.
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My first thought is something happened to him that I don't know about. (We are Catholic so that is always in the back of my mind.) He is never alone with an adult at school, church, or at a friends house. I keep a close eye on him and his 10yr old brother even though we live on an AFB because you never know what can happen.
Our family is pretty boring with no alcohol/drug issues or mental illness on either side. HIs Sunday school class is next to mine and I am always with him at scouts. He is happy and outgoing and makes friends easily.
Thank you for 'listening' and your kind words. I know you have 2 boys and might have some insight on kids!
Angel
"I can fix a bad page, but I can't fix a blank one." Nora Roberts
www.angelinabarbin.blogspot.com
Parenting....
Hi Angel,
Isn't parenting fun?? I don't mean to make light of things, and as a mother of two teen age daughters...we certainly know from DRAMA in our house. I myself suffered from a lisp for years, and benefitted from work with a speech coach, simple vocal exercises did the trick.
But, If you have concerns (as any devoted mom would), I definitely would bring it to the attention of your family doctor and ask for his/her opinion and determine if there's a simple medical reason this is happening. Perhaps it's just a developmental thing, where his little brain is simply working faster than his mouth being able to articulate his thoughts.
Let us know how things develop, k?
Jayne
Community Manager
"We cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh"—Agnes Repplier
Angel - I am going to
Angel - I am going to second Jayne's recommendation of talking to your doctor. Stuttering can often be a physical or developmental problem that can be helped with speech therapy. Good luck.
Cady
TBR--The Born Readers
Jayne and Cady.
I never even thought of taking him to a doctor. I just assumed it was emotional/mental. I will get him checked out as soon as I can.
Jayne- Yes, parenting is hard, but the best job in the world!
I'll let everyone know what happens with the doctor and speech test.
Love to all,
Angel
"I can fix a bad page, but I can't fix a blank one." Nora Roberts
www.angelinabarbin.blogspot.com
I'm going to third the suggestion to call the doc and add
that you also call the university over the hill (if you're where I think you are, I know that university town). I don't know if the university near you has a speech therapy dept but the uni near me has one that is tops for "fluency" issues (which includes stuttering). My eldest stutters -- that's the diagnosis but the speech therapists all talk about "fluency". He's always had it (his is not like Mel Tillis at the start of words/sentences -- it's hhhhhhhhh in the middle of a word). His is probably related to impulsivity/hyperactiviy (not diagnosed but lots of markers for it). Since yours is new, I doubt that it's the same as my guy's but the therapists have talked about how we all have "fluency" issues now and then plus they've talked about how my guy's little brain is going soooo much faster than his body.
Also, talk to the therapist at the school. He or she might have some excercises that you can start doing at home before you get into any recommended therapy.
I hope it's just part of a growth phase and not stress. If you can't get services on base or at the uni (or a referral to someone), email me at rmg _ 303 at yahoo dot com (without the spaces etc) and we'll see if we can figure out services available for your part of the world.
Penn
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I live near Alamogordo. I just called Family Practice and Tyler has an appt on April 22nd. The nurse talked to me a little about my concerns and left a message for our PCM in case he has questions.
I just found out there are 2 cousins with EE but I don't see the shortness of breath when my son speaks or reads.
Thank you for your help and suggestions. I will let you know if I need more assistance with outside agencies. I am not prepared for this because my kids have been charmed with good health since birth and have had no problems in school. I guess reality had to intrude sometime.
Angel
"I can fix a bad page, but I can't fix a blank one." Nora Roberts
www.angelinabarbin.blogspot.com