My lad’s coming up to 7, he’s quite a sensitive little soul and I think he may have the beginnings of a stammer, he ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ a lot when he’s speaking and it can take him a little while to get his sentences out, I haven’t brought it to his attention, but I’m wondering if there’s anything we should or shouldn’t be doing to help him along?

Have any concerns been raised by your sons school? You can ask your GP to refer him to a speech therapist if you have concerns. It’s tricky because they will try to engage with him and assess his conversation which can prove difficultt if he’s shy. Not sure where you are and what facilities are available but my 5 year old was diagnosed with dyspraxia at the age of 4 and has been offered lots of support both at school and extra curricular. (not saying your lad has dyspraxia btw. Just that in my son one of the more noticeable issues is the umming, aahinng and repeating of the same few words before he gets a sentence out).

Actually Bregante, it was the school that picked up on it first, i hadnt really noticed prior to a recent parents day, pretty sure he’s not dyspraxic as his motor skills seem fine, having a chat with gp may be way to go, don’t want to draw his attention to it as I think it may make him worse!

I do it a lot when stressed, but it doesn’t bother me too much, I suppose I’ve got used to over the years and I just stop calm down a little, then try again.

My brother had a bad stammer, he went on a course called the McGuire programme and it has changed his life Id say. Gave him confidence to speak to people and speak in public.

Im not sure if it caters for people as young as your son but worth a look. It is all to do with slowing your speech down and breathing correctly before speaking.

My brother was master of ceremonies at my Wedding last year… He would never have had the confidence to do that prior to the course. He also did hospital radio down south and does toast masters speeches. Made a massive difference to his life.

Deal with it now and watch his confidence grow.

Thanks miked, worth bearing in mind, hopefully it will come to nothing, suspect a chat with a speech therapist will be first port of call, btw, does your brother attribute his stammer to anything?

I had a stammer during my school years. Did my best to hide it. But it was a real obstacle.
Not made better by my parents insisting I answered the phone for their amusement when I was younger .. I still dread talking on phone.
Pretty much grew out of mine now. I do sometimes struggle to get a word out now and again .. mostly when I am tired. But I think everybody gets tongue-tied at sometime anyways.
I learnt to not worry about it – worrying about a stammer is what actualy makes you stammer in first place.

I do notice lots of people with stammers that disguise theirs too. I guess having had one myself helps me pick it up.

Thanks for that Mooman. We’re Being careful not to make our son conscious of it, so won’t be forcing him to answer phone for our amusement, that’s incredible!!!

Not made better by my parents insisting I answered the phone for their amusement when I was younger .. I still dread talking on phone.

Nice!

I wouldn’t say so, perhaps trying to rush his sentences or trying to rush to start a particular word would leave him struggling to get it out.

Normally If he took a deep breath, calmed down and started again it would come out fine. I have had issues in the past aswell with getting certain words out… Especially the word “prescription”… God I bloody hate that word, every time I go to collect a prescription I seem to loose the ability to say it! Quite embarrassing.. So I usually say something like ” I believe you have a package for Mike Donald”… Usually they say “is it a prescription?” And I’ll say yes. Problem solved and I don’t look like a tube!

However avoiding certain words isn’t a good habit for your son to get into.

My Dad used to tell my brother to take a breath, calm down and think about why he going to say before he started.. This helped somewhat but the difference since he attended the McGuire programme is unbelievable. At the end of the course they can get up in a shopping centre or town centre and say a few words, they also go into the town centre and ask for directions to somewhere.. It’s all about confidence and not being afraid to speak to people incase you stammer.

Just off the phone to my brother and he said to get to your local speech therapist ASAP and dot make a big thing of it, if he sees you and your partner making a thing of it then he will do the same, he also said the worst thing is when people finish the words for you aswell.

Also found out he is in regular contact with the Scottish rugby captain Kelly Brown… A bit envious now if I’m honest! I think my brother was a mentor of some description for him, they are assigned them on the project to phone when they are struggling or feeling low or need some advice or technique help.

I used to when younger but outgrew it. It used to happen when my thoughts were ahead of my speech whereas now I’m more often waiting for my mind to think of something worth saying.

Thanks for that miked and everyone else, hopefully we can nip it in the bud!

My kid brother had one – I was always told to *never* interrupt or finish sentences for him. You really would never know now.