Stuttering

Michael has developed a stutter, or maybe it's a stammer. It's appeared over-night, more or less, either that or it hasn't been as noticeable as it is now.

I rang the Speech and Language Therapist at School at the beginning of the week about it, just to see if it had been picked up at school or if it's just something he's doing at home. Turns out his class teacher has noticed, the SALT spent sometime with Michael, and is going to refer him to a SALT who specializes in dealing with children with stammers/stutters. It has been suggested that we speak really slowly to him and slur our words like we're drunk - pass the gin- far easier when you are drunk!!

As I said it has appeared from no-where, he didn't struggle like this 3 weeks ago, and suddenly it is taking him a long time to get out what he's trying to say. for example "I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I want juice" or he's left standing there with his mouth open and not a sound escaping from his lips! You can see the frustration in his face, as he tries to almost work out what it is he's trying to say.

I just think it's really odd, they did say that it can sometimes be a developmental stage that kids go through, especially when their vocab is fast expanding. But although 18 months ago, Michael was classed as non-verbal, his vocab has expanded over the last 18 months. It isn't new words he's struggling with it is every day words, like "I, is, want"

I wonder if it's tied in with his oro-motor issues, but part of me wonders if that was the case then surely this would have been happening since he started talking.

Watch this space on this one!!