Colin Stutters ;-(

Over the past week or two, Mike and I have both noticed Colin stuttering here and there. It really threw me off since he has never had any problems with his speech, besides being a late talker. Over the past weekend, it was way more pronounced then ever before, to a point where about 2 or 3 words in the sentence weren't coming out with out the b-b-b-before it. I feel so bad for him and just want to be able to pull what he is trying to say out! I've read on the computer that stuttering usually starts around the ages of 2-3. I was surprised by this, considering his speech was 100% normal just 3 weeks ago. Now its so frequent, we just expect it. :-( My mom's heard it, my friend Pam and her husband Jason have heard it as well as our babysitter too. So I called my friend Katie for advice (she is service coordinator with Early intervention) Between here and my Internet research here is what we should and shouldn't do with him. I am posting this on here so when our family or friends are around him they can follow these rules too. I don't want to make a big deal out of this to him and my following these guidelines we wont:

When he stumbles or gets stuck during a sentence, maintain normal eye contact and calmly wait for him to finish, don't finish it for him.

Talk to him in slow, relaxed tones. If you speak in a hurry, he may rush to keep up with you.

Keep a pleasant, relaxed expression on your face when he is talking. Smile as well. If you look upset or frustrated he will pick up on this and be even more self conscious. There is no point in letting him know that his stuttering is worrisome for us.

Avoid correcting him. Instead, repeat the sentence fluently yourself after him so that he will know that you understood him and hear how it should sound,

Try not to interrupt and prevent others from interrupting him.

Don't tell him to slow down or start over. This could feed the problem and make him feel more nervous and self conscious.

Let him know you understand to the problem. when he has a really hard sentence, letting him know that talking can be hard sometimes can be comforting for him. And that his hard work makes you very proud of him. If you ignore it, or pretend it doesn't exist, he'll assume it's something that can't be talked about.

I am hoping that these tools will work for us. I will wait the recommended 3-6 months to see if it gets any better or worse. If nothing is helping by this time, I will give his pediatrician a call. I am in the mean time going to mention it to his therapy team now as well -His service coordinator, OT and Special Ed. teacher.