I had speech issues when I was younger, but grew out of them. Took speech therapy for several years in elementary school.

Our middle daughter had trouble with Rs and a "tongue thrust" S. S problem worked itself out, but R didn't.
Public school system speech therapists will evaluate them for free to determine if there is a need for legit therapy. They told us to come back if the problem didn't correct by five, but she did eventually get the Rs down without professional help.
If you're really concerned their are private options as well.

Thank you. His mother and I are very proud of him. He is the light of the room at his daycare and I am constantly confronted with new people who love getting to be around him while he is there (he does NOT get that from his father, lol) I guess my biggest fear is that he will lose that spark and excitement if he continues to stammer and struggle to get his words out

Same here I had a bad stutter in elementary that followed me to my junior year of high school, then it just stopped. I still get stuck on words from time to time but you wouldn't know today that I had a bad case. I took speech classes through my childhood years but stopped once I hit middle school. My stutter would flare up when I was anxious and in social situations where I didn't feel comfortable, so my speech would speed up therefore my stutter.

I've got nothing other than the fact that you really do t see people with a stutter anymore. Speech therapy is amazing. So, I'd say that even if he has a stutter, it can be fixed.

Ok..I've got one thing to add: my kids always stuttered when they were excited to get something out

It's a completely normal part of development. My oldest went through phases with it when he was about your son's age. The pediatrician explained it as if their brains are a superhighway for processing information at that time, but their words cannot keep up sometimes. He is now a thriving kindergartner with no signs of any speech issues.

Don't hesitate to visit a speech therapist. I have a few friends that do this for a living, one with stroke victims and the other in elementary school, and they tend to be extremely passionate about finding a solution.

Take him to the doc and see if he needs a referral to a ST now or wait it out

Our 2-1/2 year old son just went through this a few weeks ago. Suddenly started stuttering, I can't even recall what words or when in the sentence. I think it was early in a thought or sentence. Our minds wandered to the worst case of things and I think any parent would. But we tried to put that away in the short term and see if he grew out of it. It lasted about a week or two and went away. I found it cut, listening to him try to get the words out, and tried to enjoy his developing speech more than letting my mind think of the worst. I still miss the little things our daughter would miss pronounce, or the way she said certain words and phrases, such as "can my go outside" instead of "I". I wish we had videoed more of them to hold onto those memories.

That said, it's easy in hind sight to say don't worry. I think it's good to have a healthy concern during development and keep an eye on things. If things are out of sorts, or simple things like a stutter last too long then I'd say it's a good idea to have them checked out. But I don't think you have anything to worry about at this point.

TL;DR: Give it a couple weeks, see if he grows out of it, and most of all, enjoy his nuances!! That's what makes kids so cute, in my opinion!

Some folks post pics of their "cute" kids here and my reaction is Seinfeldian


Your boy, however, is cute as all get out. Best of luck, I'm sure he'll be just fine. If you're truly worried about it, go to the doctor. That's why they're there.

Don't worry about it, yet. Just get him to slow down when he gets stuck and try not to draw attention to it.

If it continues to worsen or doesn't resolve over the next few weeks, then it's worth an office visit. It does seem, however, that you're pretty anxious so it won't hurt anything to talk to somebody you trust.

My son did this at about the same age as yours. It was an overnight thing, as you describe. He would get excited and just wasn't able to get the words out fast enough. We were advised that it was nothing to be concerned about.

He just turned five and has grown out of it.

I agree with other posters to keep a watchful eye (which it seems like you already do). I'm not a speech therapist, though, so you should seek the advice of one if you're concerned enough to do so.

My youngest son is stuttering a little bit. We think it's because he's got lots to say and when he has the floor, he wants to keep it! And his big bro and sis don't give him many breaks.

We've just started this week making a conscious effort to give him our full, undivided attention and hear him out to completion. It seems to calm the stuttering down somewhat.

He'll likely grow out of it. I was in speech therapy for 4-5 years in elementary. I had a major issue with anything with the "th" sound. I flat out couldn't say it. Picture being in 1st grade and not being able to read the word "the" out loud.......between the speech issue and severe disgraphia, I literally hated school/elementary until the very end of 4th grade.

I actually still have the speech issue, but ironically I do a lot of public speaking. I learned to compensate years ago to where only a speech therapist will usually pick up on it, and I rarely consciously think of it, unless I get flustered about something.

Good luck. I suspect he will be fine. Cute kid.

Good luck. My mom got her masters in speech pathology from TAMU. My dad and uncles had problems with stuttering. One still does because he didn't address it. As you can see our family has a lot of experience here!

I never had stuttering but I had some issues growing up. Nobody could understand me. I did 2 years with the school speech therapist. My mother thought it better to have a 3rd party deal with it even though she was highly trained. Sometimes the (frustration) emotional separation is a good thing! My first year of therapy was when I was 4 and then one more when I was in kindergarten. No issues now. And I talk... a lot.

So if you have any concerns...talk to a pro. The stress and worry is nothing compared to a bit of effort to get a pros guidance. Many have been there and most get better...especially if you have some help.

I had to do about 9 years of speech therapy when I was younger, I eventually grew out of it but even now, if I am in a high anxiety situation I will stutter here and there. But try to take a deep breath, calm down, then I can get the words out.

My 18 year old son began stuttering around the same time, and it never got any better. He went through all the speech therapies and had no luck with them. He has decided on therapy to help him deal with the stress and anxiety that comes from it. People can be very cruel. My only word of advice is to never finish his sentences and to have patience with him. Also, contact the school counselors when he comes of age.
Email is username at hotmail if I can help.

Since he is 3, he should already be qualified for speech therapy (or at least an evaluation) from you local school.
I see you are a coach/teacher so probably at a high school. Check with the diagnostician at your campus and they should be able to point you in the right direction.

My now 6 year old had a similar issue. When she was just starting to talk she became a motor mouth and was constantly talking in one form or another. However, she had a hard time with the "L" sound, it came out as a "Y" sound. I had the EXACT same issue when I was little. Then suddenly she went quiet and spoke very little for a few months (pediatrician told us not to worry). When she started talking again she had a very noticeable stutter. Several folks suggested that the school would take care of it when she got there, but we were interested in getting it fixed earlier. This was due to my brother having a stutter when he was little that was only corrected with speech therapy.

We found a private practice speech therapist for her and she went weekly for about 6 months. Between that and following through with the therapists recommendations at home, all of her speech problems disappeared. You would never know she had issues at this point in her life.

All of this is to say, speech issues can come on quickly with kids at this age, seemingly overnight sometimes. However, they can be fixed rather easily with therapy, but it can be expensive to do it through insurance. My belief is that the earlier you can get it fixed the better as it prevents it from becoming a long term habit.

Good luck and have fun with them at that age, they grow up quickly.

Small update;

He seems to have calmed a little...it is not near as bad as it was on Sunday and Monday. Something we have noticed is that he appears to be aware of it now. When he starts to stutter (most occurrences at least) but when he starts to stutter he has begun putting his hand up to his mouth, or a ball or whatever is in his hand and he seems to force him self to take a deep breath. For the most part it helps and he only may stutter once or twice after. I dont really know what that means but I take it as a positive that he recognizes it and is self correcting.


Thanks for all of yall's responses. For the short term we are going to put off a Dr visit for atleast another week or so and see how he does self correcting and if he can work it out on his own.