Kelly Clarkson is opening up about her four-year-old son Remy’s speech delays.

The singer tells People the issues stemmed from hearing problems he had when he was younger.

“He had a speech problem because he had this ear problem when he was a baby. We didn’t know,” Kelly says. “But way deep down in his ears, he got clogged up with a ton of wax where we thought, almost, he was deaf because he spoke as if he was underwater.”

While the ear issue was easy to correct, it set his speech development back almost nine months.

“So we’ve been working really hard with his speech and he’s still doing his speech therapist via Zoom,” Kelly says. “The big milestone for us is Remy getting to really find out his own personality and his identity, because it’s been frustrating for him to not be able to really vocalize his emotion.”

She adds, “The fact that he’s making full sentences now and full-on engaging with us is really a blessing.”

Kelly and husband Brandon Blackstock are also parents to almost-six-year-old River Rose, and Kelly is stepmom to Brandon’s two other children, 13-year-old Seth and 18-year-old Savannah.

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