Preschooler Speech Question

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

This question is going to seem insane but here goes. I know we have some experienced speech people here so I thought I'd ask...this is more like a "am I crazy" question.

So D (3.75 -- as she will tell you) has never had a problem talking. She speaks a TON and is relatively clear. No issues with receptive language (except when she feels like ignoring me, etc). So I've never thought there was a problem (and there still might not be one) but lately I've noticed something kind of strange going on.

When she speaks in normal conversation, she is totally fine making sentences and doing give and take but probably 3-4 times a day, she will attempt to bring up a new conversation starter and just...can't. Like she starts overprocessing. She'll go, "you know what mom?", "Yes, D?", "Um, well,.....[silence, struggling noises, etc]." She's gotten everyone's attention to say something new and CAN"T GET IT OUT. It's really strange to watch. And it definitely isn't shyness. She's my most outgoing child and if you re-engage her with a topic, she fluidly starts talking again. It's like a recall issue or something. I don't even know how to describe it so this probably makes no sense but it's like when you click a computer folder and the computer just...stalls out. Her brain starts timing out or something. And it's only when she's trying to bring up something to change topic or whatever. She can't get it out. Or on the rare time she does, it makes NO SENSE (totally garbled, etc).

Is this a thing? Is this normal? Is it even a problem?

I feel insane because she has no problem speaking as [MENTION=1889]SoonerTexan[/MENTION] can attest. She's loud and outgoing and communicates all the time. But the timing out thing has me worried. And I would think about absence seizures except that she's inducing it herself by initiating and attempting to turn the conversation.

[Thirteen]

Preschooler Speech Question

It might be a nervous tick, or her brain is just processing wayyyyyy faster than her mouth.

If you think it's becoming an impediment of sorts, you can always have her screened by an SLP. ❤️

Edited: if it's nerves of some sort, give her a secondary mechanism to get her mind off of the struggle. Maybe something simple like shifting weight from side to side ("flowing") and telling her to inhale for a count of 3/exhale for a count of 3 before she speaks. I find grounding positions (feet hip width apart, hand on my heart) helps my mind know my body is "supported" and I can take my time with whatever task I'm about to do.

One size does not fit all. If you feel movement will help, try. If you feel pausing to collect thoughts and being still will help, try that instead.


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[spotty_dog]

My son has a stuttering-like speech disfluency that I've never had completely diagnosed. I seem to recall that when I looked into it, there are definitely developmental phases when certain disfluencies are normal. http://www.stutteringhelp.org/differential-diagnosis

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Thanks @spottydog, that's super helpful.

I think this is probably me:

Some parents, however, may be extremely sensitive to speech development and will become unnecessarily concerned about normal disfluencies. These overly concerned parents often benefit from referral to a speech clinician for an evaluation and continued reassurance.

[OrionGrad]

I don't know if this is to the same degree, but J used to have a hard time getting his words out when he was starting a new conversation. In his case, you could see his brain was moving way faster than his mouth and the poor guy could just not spit it out. I'd say it was the worst when he was in his early 4s. He grew out of it sometime between 4.5 and 5.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I don't know if this is to the same degree, but J used to have a hard time getting his words out when he was starting a new conversation. In his case, you could see his brain was moving way faster than his mouth and the poor guy could just not spit it out. I'd say it was the worst when he was in his early 4s. He grew out of it sometime between 4.5 and 5.

Yes, that's a good description. Sounds like it might be normal. It was just concerning because it felt like it came on all at once but maybe it's just a phase.


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[L.Jane]

Eli is the same way. He's a few months younger but does not shut up and sometimes he will want to tell me something and he keeps starting over and over again. Sounds like it just must be a processing thing at this age.

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[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Thank you guys, you're making me feel not crazy/better.


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[niener]

I would guess it's a normal development phase. M started doing something similar recently too -- we call it "chewing on her words" because the noises she makes literally sounds like she's ruminating on the sentence and just can't get it out. In M's case it seems like her brain is moving faster than her mouth and she just gets stuck. Sometimes she eventually spits out bits and pieces that I can put together and sometimes it's just garbled mess and I have to stop her and reset the conversation. She's a good deal younger than D but she uses unusually expressive language for her age so I know she has the language skills to say what she wants to say, she just... gets stuck, that's probably the best way to describe it. I don't know if you read/used the Wonder Weeks app or book when your kiddos were itty bitty but if so, to me this follows a similar pattern of those leaps where they struggle with something for a bit and then a short while later you'll notice a significant jump in their ability, so like in this case I wouldn't be surprised if in a week or two D suddenly develops more complex language skills than she had before.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

She's been doing it for 6-8 weeks so I don't know that it'll resolve that quickly but it does sound like this is within the normal range.

I just didn't experience anything like this with C and it was bothering me because it "appeared" out of nowhere.


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[MrsC]

I have noticed something similar with C. It mostly happens when he's trying to join in adult conversation or start conversation with an adult, something he's been doing a lot. He stammers and then part of it comes out like gibberish. Usually, I can't get him to stop talking, he's very chatty..

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