Patient's question:
Doctor, my daughter is three years and four months old. She started attending kindergarten last October, and since November last year, she has been experiencing stuttering. It has been a year now. Previously, she spoke very well, but now her stuttering mainly manifests as difficulty pronouncing certain words and repetition, sometimes even repeating every word in a sentence twice. For example: "You you you want want to do do what what." I was aware that stuttering can occur during the language development process in children, but my daughter's condition has lasted too long.Doctor's answer:
Stuttering is a common behavior in children during their development, most prevalent between the ages of 2.5 and 4. It primarily occurs because a child's rapid cognitive development outpaces their speaking skills, leading to difficulty expressing their thoughts with short sentences. The brain struggles to find the right words, and heightened emotional tension contribute to the symptoms of stuttering! Additionally, it could be a result of the child imitating stuttering as a bad habit. Generally, medication or hospitalization is not required—correction can be done at home. Treat it with a calm mindset, avoid laughing at the child or discussing it with others, and encourage them to slow down their speech rate and articulate each word clearly. If stuttering occurs, you can gently interrupt, sing a song, or distract them to relax. Later, you can ask them again to express what they need to say. Focus on encouragement rather than scaring, punishing, or hitting!