Should I be concerned about my two-and-a-half-year-old son’s tendency to stammer and repeat words? If he has a real stuttering problem, I don’t want to wait too long before doing something about it.

It is too early to be concerned about speech impediments in your boy. Here is the recommendation of DuPont Hospital for Children, located in Wilmington, Delaware, in the United States, which deals specifically with speech therapy for children:

“The first signs of stuttering may appear after the second birthday or when a child is beginning to put words together to form sentences. To parents it may be upsetting, but it is considered a normal stage in speech development. Showing patience with the child and adopting a cautious, accepting, and informed attitude are best during the preschool years.

“A child may be disfluent for a few weeks or several months, with symptoms disappearing and perhaps appearing again. Most children in whom stuttering begins before the age of five will lose the disfluency, usually within 12 months of onset. Children sharpen their communication skills as they become school age (six or seven years old). By then, normal disfluency drops to very low levels.”

The bottom line is that the experts say you should wait until your little boy is six or seven before taking action. If he’s still stuttering then he should be seen at a clinic for a complete speech evaluation.

This article was written by Focus on the Family Malaysia (www.family.org.my) and the Questions and Answers are extracted from “Complete Family and Marriage Home Reference Guide” by Dr James Dobson with permission.