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Okay - I am hoping that someone else has run across this...
My fosterdaughter is 2-1/2 (turning 3 in June) but is very bright for her age. She is already counting to 20 and saying her complete alphabet without assistance; I have noticed that after three or four times of reading a particular story, that she will start speaking certain lines before we get to that page. Her vocabulary is quite large and she does speak in sentences and her little personality is quite sunny with a cute sense of humor.
She has been with us since November 1st and has transitioned into a routine quite nicely. Her removal was for neglect (bmom has substance abuse issues as well as domestic violence victim) and she has some of the classic signs of neglected children, particularly in the attention seeking behaviors (using negative behavior deliberately to get attention) and her lack of fear toward new people / strangers. So she has really thrived with structure and routine and setting appropriate boundaries. When she was first placed with us, bmom was incarcerated, so there were no visits back and forth. After four weeks with us (and no communication with the bio family), our fd was really showing progress and all the workers were pleased with her attitude and happiness level. An interesting side note during this whole time she never once asked for her mother and when I would initiate the subject she would deliberately change the subject. She was happy enough to talk about her grandparents and aunt, but not "mommy".
Now, two weeks before Christmas, we began long (6 hour) unsupervised visits with bmom at the grandparents house. Bmom refuses to allow her to nap during visit days and has sent her home once without dinner and my fd only cried after leaving the very first visit - the last time she didn't even look back after I picked her up. After just two weeks of this arrangement, my poor little angel has developed a rather severe stutter!!
Being the nerd that I am, I did some research and realize now that it is somewhat common for children to develop a temporary stutter (transient dysfluency) as their language centers develop... but, does anyone else think this is significant that the stutter only developed after bmom reentered the picture? It doesn't seem to follow all the symptoms of transient dysfluency, as it does not get worse when she is excited or around company, but is very noticable the first couple of days after her visits with bmom. After three or four days, her speaking improves and she'll only stutter on particular syllabels (such as "y" and "wh" sounds).
Has anyone else run across this? I mentioned it to her caseworker and he made a notation in her files regarding my concerns... Is there any advice you can give me? Does anyone else have experience with this? I am following all the suggestions for dealing with the transient dysfluency and have decided to give it a few months before I ask for any evaluations (she is definately with us through March, if she remains with us after that and is still stuttering so severely, I am going to ask for an eval) to see if it clears up or improves on its own - but any advice or insight you can give would be most appreciated.
Sorry for the long post, but I am a little lost on what to do with this one...
Thanks
SunnyAndi13
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It could be anxiety. Visits are probably a source of stress for your fd. I have a friend who is 31 and he stutters to this day, but only when he's nervous or anxious. With him it's a dead give away to tell when he's trying to debate his way out of a corner (gotta love debating).
You may want to research stuttering and it's emotional link. Just about everything can be linked to emotions. For example when my son gets nervous he does this strange freezing thing. He used to break out in hives too.
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I agree with Leenab. It sounds like it's stress related to me too! Six hour, unsupervised visits seem like a lot for this little one, especially with no contact for a while. The only kids I've had that had that type of visit were about ready to go home (as in a week or two).
Best of luck. The poor baby is probably so confused.
Michelle
Thank you all for replying... I'm really glad I asked this question... Like I said in talking to the pediatrician, it seems it is pretty common for kids this age to develop a stutter, but again, it is usually linked to an emotional disruption / trauma.
I have mentioned it to her caseworker, but he didn't seem as concerned as I am. We know she is with us through March (bmom had expressed a desire to get her back), which is the next hearing. The visits do seem excessively long and the only supervision is provided by the great grandparents (where bmom is currently living). When bmom gets her own place, I am a little concerned as to how it will go... I think I am going to push for supervised visits if bmom gets her own apartment - just to be on the safe side.
If our fd is still with us after March (which bmom doesn't have a good track record, she has already lost one child to the bfather) I am going to push for a full evaluation, both speech and attachment (she has a LOT of security / loss / abandonment issues). Another interesting aside, after the third weekend with visitation, when I went to pick up our fd, she didn't cry or fuss - she just kissed her bmom and walked out without looking back. Fd also is doing the classic "any attention is better than none" type behaviors when she returns home after her visits... I know bmom is not enforcing any boundaries (she's not even letting her nap!) and fd's behavior when she comes home is either extremely clingy or testing the envelope.
How do I convey my concern over this issue without seeming like I am obssessing over nothing? The last thing I need is to alienate this bmom even more (she is obstinate without being hostile, about as "un-nice" as you can be without being completely rude) by seeming to "tattle" or interfere with her visits?
Thanks for all your replies... I don't know what I would have done without this forum - so much helpful advice and sympathetic ears!!
SunnyAndi13
I'd say it's toally stress related. We have some problems with our almost 4 yr old foster son. He does the wetting thing instead of a studder though. Try and get a councellor involved. I spend lots of time telling my fosterson that I love him and my husband loves him and he seems to do better.
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Something you might do is call First Steps. It is a Federally Funded program that works with Children 0-3. All you have to do is call and set up an appointment with them. They will come talk to you about your concerns. Once they know what type of problem the are looking at they will have a specalist come amd evaluate the child. If they find the child is in need of services than they will work with you to set them up. I have had one child work with a behavior therapist and my little guy is being seen by an OT.
This program is a great resource. As a foster parent who only take little ones it is nice to know that this program is available. And just so you know I set up the appointments and then tell my cw. And it has never been a problem since the agency doesn't pay for the service.
I'm a speech therapist. It does sound stress-related. But get your early intervention workers to come out to give you some tips on how to handle it and it work with your foster daughter. I"m not an expert in stuttering, though I have worked with many older children who have this diagnosis. In my experience, few therapists work on stuttering at such a young age, but the trend in our field is to start working on it earlier. At least some careful, unobtrusive work on it with your FD may give her another outlet without there ever needing to have the word "stuttering" mentioned to her (which is strongly frowned upon at her age- she won't understand it).Good luck.--JC
Thanks everyone for your insight and patient listening... I am happy to report that since New Years is over and we are back into our routine with daycare, etc. that my fd's stutter is greatly improving!! Now, she only stutters when she is really excited and it seems she is teaching herself to stop, take a deep breath and start over - the second time around it usually comes out without a hitch...
Michelle, I agree that these vists are too long. Our next hearing isn't until March and we've been doing these long unsupervised visits since bmom re-entered the picture. The system is really failing this little cookie - lots of issues with bmom that she is hiding (and I feel like such a tattletell for talking to the caseworker but they need to know for my fd's sake) from the workers... although bmom says she wants her child back, she is playing the system to the hilt, only doing enough so that they think she is making progress, but not enough to cure the root problems that ended her up in this situation!
Oh, well - I am going to keep advocating for this little angel and doing the best that I can for her... even if she does go home, at least she'll have had a good five months of a loving nuturing home (but then I worry that if she does go home, it'll be even worse because now she'll know how a family is supposed to act!).
Thanks to all for your insight!
Andi
I agree with JC. I, too, am a speech pathologist with some experience with young stutterers. It's important not to correct your foster child or make her repeat her self. Reinforce clear speech by talking about her pretty voice and how beautiful she sounds. It's important for her to feel as though her speech is normal as to avoid developing what we call "secondary" behaviors like facial movements, eye blinking, etc. It is normal for a period of dysfluency or developmental stuttering, but taking her to an SLP would give you more ideas on how to help keep it under control so that it doesn't evolve into a lifelong problem. I would also make up a list of "tips" to share with social workers and birth family to help them understand how to talk to your foster daughter without causing more distress for her.
Good luck!
Jen
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I have had an experience such as yours. Our fs was 4 years old when bdad got out of prison. His stuttering started at the same time. Bdad's visits were very irregular. Whenever he would visit, the stuttering would get worse and whenever bdad quit showing for a couple of weeks the stuttering would stop. Our fs was working with a behavior therapist and a speech therapist, they both could tell by his behaviors and the amount of stuttering when he had a visit with bdad. It helps to have as many professional people working with these children as possible. So many people believe their word over the word of foster parents.