So, our newest parental worry around here is about Z. At almost 5 1/2, he has acquired a stutter.
It all began after he saw an Arthur episode about stuttering, and told me that he thought it sounded, “cool”. He began stuttering in a way that seemed intentional. He would stop when we told him to stop, and it wouldn’t pop up again for a little while.
Then it got worse. And worse. Then I freaked out.
The intellectual, child therapist side of me said that this is some sort of phase. My gut feeling was not to make a big deal about it and it would eventually go away. Then the mom side of me overruled and said, “there is something wrong with my baby, I don’t know what it is, AHHHHH!!”. So, I took him to the doctor. I told him for a while that if the stutter didn’t go away then that was what I was going to do. So, I took him to the car and without any hint of a stutter he says, “That’s okay, Mommy. I don’t need to go. I’m all done stuttering”. Hmm…
The intellectual side of me felt validated, the mom side of me still drove us to the doctor. She listened to the situation. She gave him a thorough evaluation, making sure that all of his neurological signs looked good (they did). Then she tells me that it looks like just a phase. She gave me a referral to speech therapist, but seemed skeptical that it was needed or would be helpful. She encouraged me just to wait it out. So, that is what we are doing. Waiting and trying to ignore…..
Just another day at the circus.