bad stuttering

My son started stuttering really bad about 7 months ago, when his baby brother was born. I Would feel so bad for him, because he would start to stutter on a word, and look at me and say "Daddy, i cant say it", it killed me to hear him say that. Well, after doing a little research, i noticed, it could have been due to the new baby. After about 3 weeks, it just went away. But now for the past week, it has started up again, and is reall bad. He will be 3 in July..has anyone had a similar experience? Or know when i should get Early intervention involved?
Thanks.

Re: bad stuttering

i'm a speech therapist in NJ... and honestly, at this age stuttering really isn't that uncommon. there is SOO much development still going on, they're still trying to get their brains to work with their mouths, and learning so much stuff.
we usually don't get too concerned until like 5 or 6 years old.
is he doing anything like blinking his eyes when hes stuttering? or twitching his head, or REALLY looking like hes trying to force a word out? these kinds of things MIGHT mean its more than just a development thing.
the best thing to do is to just create as a calm of a speaking situation as you can for him. NEVER rush him to get the word out, always keep looking at him even when hes stuttering, always talk to him in a slow, calm voice. all of this will help him feel more comfortable and probably help the stutter be less frequent. you just don't want to draw attention to it, because that can cause some stress and make things worse.
If hes going to be 3 in July, its probably too late to call EI- that only goes up to 3 years old, but your local school district could probably do an evaluation once he turns 3. or your insurance might cover an eval by a private therapist, just to get peace of mind.
good luck! and FM me with any questions!

Re: bad stuttering

Thank you so much for responding. He does not twitch, or act any different, but he will tell me sometimes, he can't say it, or i just spoke to him on phone a few minutes ago, and he did not say "Love you" at the end of our convo, because yesterday he had a hard time saying it to me on phone, and when he went to bed. Me and my wife will try and slow down, and give him eye contact now, and see if it helps.
It is just killing us, to see him go thru this, and we live in a world where things are so fast paced, for example we went to dinner last night, and my son went to tell the waitress, "Thank you" and he had a tough time, but got it out, but you could see the waitress was in a rush, and was trying to be nice, but walking away at same time.