Q: My daughter (3 years) has developed stuttering since the past 2 weeks and takes a lot of time to start a word or a sentence. She has absolutely no problems when she sings. She stammers on words like ‘What’ as wha-wha-what. Can you please guide us regarding the best approach to treat this problem. We have read extensively on this subject and we do not pressurise the child or correct her in between now. We let her talk and try to be calm when she stammers. As a background, since the past 2 months we tried to correct her words and tried to teach on how to hit the words or pronounce them so that her speech was clear. This I guess was the eagerness of new parents. Our daughter is our first child and we are expecting our second baby in August, which our daughter is aware of and we have been explaining her that she will soon have a baby sister/brother. Would this have caused stammering?

A:You seem to be very aware & well-read parents. The most important thing you can do to help your child is to be relaxed yourselves. Do not make her conscious of her mistakes, either through verbal or non-verbal reactions. Be good models yourselves. Most children go through such phases and hopefully she will overcome it soon.