Stammering

[dut]

Hi - has anyone seen stammering in their children during PANDAS episodes but not at other times? Not word repeating but more a real stammer, like getting stuck on the 'M"' sound at the begnning of a word like a stammerer might...

 

Thanks.

[MomWithOCDSon]

We get lots of word repeating . . . like he's almost instantaneously losing his train of thought . . . but no real stammering or stuttering.

[AmySLP]

Hi - has anyone seen stammering in their children during PANDAS episodes but not at other times? Not word repeating but more a real stammer, like getting stuck on the 'M"' sound at the begnning of a word like a stammerer might...

 

Thanks.

 

How old is your child? Developmental stuttering can be normal in preschoolers. Is your child repeating the beginning sounds in all words when going through these episodes or just the /m/ sound? I don't see why it couldn't be a symptom like that of a verbal tic. My daughter had verbal tics during her exacerbations of PANDAS that would be a distinct glottal sound. If your noticing the stuttering in conjuction with other symptoms and never when your child is asymptomatic, I'd be more apt to say it's PANDAS related, but stuttering can be episodic too. I think the presence of concurrent symptoms is key . I am a speech-Language PAthologist, although I'll be the first to admit that stuttering is not an area of expertise for me. There is another mom on the forum that I know of who is an SLP working with school-age children; she may be able to give more info than me.

 

 

Amy

[dut]

Hi - we've never had stuttering before (we've had sentence or word repeating) with my ds2. Our dd6 has a PANDAS dx, our ds2 a possible dx. Dd6 has had a ramp in symptoms this week in conjunction with an acute allergic reaction AND a sore throat (so this is muddying the waters a bit). Our ds2 has had lower frustration tolerance, increased sleep problems and this stammering. He doesn't do it all the time, mostly when he's tired or excited. The 'm' sound does seem the most problematic for him but he does it with other beginning sounds too.

 

 

Both kids came back negative on rapid and we are awaiting cultures. The stammering feels like PANDAS to me but, heh, so difficult to know with a 2 year old....

[thereishope]

I don't think my son would repeat a single sound over and over until he got it out, but he would repeat a block of words or phrase before finishing his thought. For him, it was PANDAS. However...he is now in kindergarten and I know at least one or two kids that speak like that. So, for some, it's just part of them. With my son that came and gone with PANDAS.

 

It's almost like their mouth can't keep up with their thoughts and they get overwhelmed.

[dcmom]

Dut- YES!

 

My dd, age 6.5, does exactly that, "I-i-is that my lunch?" or whatever. She repeats a sound several times. It is not every sentence at all, but lets say once or twice in a story.

 

She has always been an extremely verbal kid, early talker, big vocab, no stuttering/stammering ever. This seemed to appear out of nowhere in the last 6 mos, maybe post flu, not sure. She has been doing really well, pandas-wise, but does have persistent low level stuff. I blame pandas for this.

 

Would it be "typical" otherwise for an extremely verbal kid (from an early age), to start something like this at age 6 plus? It doesn't seem tic like- but I know nothing about tics...

[dcmom]

I don't mention it to her, or react. I am hoping it is something that goes away in time. It is not extreme- and one might not think anything of it if you didn't know her...

[dut]

dcmom - yeh, it doesn't feel like a tic to me either, although with the exception of our dd's few tics, I'm not really conversant with tics. I used to be friends with a stammerer and it sounded just like this.

 

I'll let you know how it goes. Keep us posted on your dd.

[momto2pandas]

My ds3 stammers seriously when he exacerbates. In fact, it's his most pronounced symptom (often his only one) and was the first one we noticed, when he was 2. His speech therapist can see it clearly from week to week.

 

My ds6 has word repeating issues when he exacerbates. This can be quite severe but it doesn't really sound like a speech issue as much as a thought-process issue (like constant brain hiccups). Not sure if that distinction makes sense.

 

Hi - we've never had stuttering before (we've had sentence or word repeating) with my ds2. Our dd6 has a PANDAS dx, our ds2 a possible dx. Dd6 has had a ramp in symptoms this week in conjunction with an acute allergic reaction AND a sore throat (so this is muddying the waters a bit). Our ds2 has had lower frustration tolerance, increased sleep problems and this stammering. He doesn't do it all the time, mostly when he's tired or excited. The 'm' sound does seem the most problematic for him but he does it with other beginning sounds too.

 

 

Both kids came back negative on rapid and we are awaiting cultures. The stammering feels like PANDAS to me but, heh, so difficult to know with a 2 year old....

[dut]

That distinction makes complete sense to me 'cos my ds2 has done the word repeat thing before that feels like a thought process issue and the stammer thing this last week or so that feels very different...

[tpotter]

My son was just complaining today that he has been getting some stuttering. What I have observed, though is more dysarthria, and it was pretty bad today (he said he didn't realize he was doing it.) He has also had episodes where he was suddenly unable to speak (this happened last year before he finally got IVIG, then started again about 1 month later, and he had PEX.) The dysarthria is starting up again (as are plenty of other symptoms.) He is "in line" to get PEX again. This disorder is just so horrible...it affects everything, and yet so many docs just refuse to accept that it is anything more than psychological!!! I just want to wring their necks.

[thereishope]

If I notice my son getting very stuck, I will say in a soft voice, "Think about what you want to say". Sometimes that snaps him out of it. But I don't do that every time, just when he's really stuck.

[melanie]

Oh My ,,Ive have been dealing with this for 4 years.I have posted this question 10 or more times and none seems to have this aside from us.It has gotten a little better.the stammering started as getting stuck on words and went to hearing stammering .when danny hears speach and people arent speaking fluently he hears stammiering.This sets him off.He gets frusterated and then verbal tics!!!We have had 4 IVs 1st one it was totally gone but came back.I know it has to do with the basil gaglia.Also we took risperadal and the 1st 2 weeks all of those tics stammering etc were completly gone.But not for long ,interesting

[dut]

Hi - found this

 

Situations where we don't stutter provide important clues about the underlying dysfunction. One such condition is the 'rhythm effect': persons who stutter usually become fluent when speaking to the pace of a metronome. They seem unable to stutter when following the beats. This distinction, to have a problem performing a motor sequence on your own, but being able to do it when receiving external 'timing cues', is characteristic of dysfunction of the basal ganglia motor circuits (including related structures, such as the supplementary motor area (SMA)). Normally, the basal ganglia seem to provide 'go-signals' for the segments in a motor sequence, eg. the syllables in speech.

 

Without sufficiently strong go-signals the speech cannot be started or will be disrupted. The rhythm effect appears to be a key feature of stuttering, providing a strong indication that stuttering is related to some type of disturbance of the basal ganglia motor circuits.

 

There are several other indications for the important role of the basal ganglia in stuttering, for example:

1. Lesions that cause 'acquired stuttering' often affect the basal ganglia (Ludlow et al., 1987).

2. The drugs that have shown the clearest effect on stuttering, to make it better or worse, affect the dopamine system. Dopamine is a key transmitter that regulates the function of the basal ganglia.

3. Basal ganglia motor disorders characteristically worsen during stress and 'nervous tension', and improve under relaxed conditions.

 

on this site

 

http://www.stammering.org/peralm.html

[dut]

Melanie - seems you're not on your own with this.....