For you speech/language experts: is there a developmental progression to speech fluency? My 5-year-old sometimes speaks haltingly, as if he’s trying hard to find the right words. I noticed one of his friends has a slightly unusual rhythm to his speech, too (this child happens to be highly gifted; not my son’s case, though he is a bright kid). I certainly haven’t noticed it with my son’s girl friends…just the opposite. Some of his slightly older boy friends seem to speak fluently, though. My son is pretty verbal, can carry on a short conversation. He’ll initiate it when talking about something that interests him, and sometimes just in typical, everyday conversation, although that’s less frequent. Another thing: sometimes when I ask him a question, he doesn’t answer me unless I insist he do so, then he’s fine. Any ideas? He spoke right on schedule as a baby, other milestones reached early/on time.
I wouldn't worry too much about it
He is young yet plus his vocaublary is probably exploding. Each child is different, and you may want to check out the link below to a brochure on the SFA Stuttering Foundation of America’s website about stuttering and speech fluency…so that you can understand what speech fluency is. If you don’t see any visible tremors and tension when he is talking he probably is ok in regards to stuttering…Sometimes kids choose not to talk and will listen more as they are going through the plateaus and explosions of developing speech; sometimes their older siblings will do most of the talking or their parents do it for them or they may need more time to say what they want instead of having someone impatiently waiting for them to finish. They may choose to not say anything if they get tired of fighting for time to talk.
But what I would do is to just chill when he talks, let him talk and don’t pressure him. Some kids have word finding problems when they are searching for words to use and experiment with new words they are picking up as they get older. Read the brochure and I think you will feel better about his fluency issues.
http://www.stuttersfa.org/brochures/br_iytyc.htm
Re: Development of fluent speech?
Thank you both so much for your thoughts. Of course, I’m listening to him today and he sounds fine. I’m going to do an S/L eval anyway. I’ll let you know what happens. Thanks again.
You need Pattim for details. She’s back around here and you should be able to talk to her.
Halting speech does happen and is one of those maybe-maybe not things. Maybe perfectly normal, maybe a sign — depends on frequency and severity and child’s age and social situation etc.
In speech, as in many other areas of development, there are bursts of development and plateaus of consolidation. A kid struggles with a new skill, or doesn’t seem to be learning it at all, for a long time; then suddenly apparently “overnight” he learns it — well, it’s like “overnight sensations” in music, who usually work for ten years before they hit that right night. He has bursts where he seems to be picking up things like a sponge, something new every day or every hour; then he has plateaus where he doesn’t seem to be learning much, may even seem to regress a bit at times. These are all normal patterns of learning and no reason to panic.
Since speech is such a complex activity, learning something new — as for example starting to use complex sentences or time relations — can cause some fluency difficulties while you try to process too much information at once. Normally this passes.
I work with people of all ages in second languages and tongue-ties happen, but slowly get better. Lots of language input and not being stressed over output, with supportive listening, usually aid in developing speaking confidence
The time to be concerned is when he is noticeably different from other children his age, or noticeably off his own personal patterns, or noticeably stressed and distressed. Aim for the happy medium between concern and overprotectiveness.