Tips for those who stutter

This was a great show about stuttering.  The interesting thing to me was hearing how to slide into words, talk like Winston Churchill and use pauses to break a sentence up and lessen stuttering.  These are just some things that a well-trained speech therapist can help those who stutter learn to do to make their speech smoother.  One of my uncles was so lucky to find out about the Stuttering Foundation when he was an adult.  Parents who have children who start stuttering should seek help so they can be referred to a speech therapist who can help the child so they hopefully don't have a lifelong problem.  Just like a health problem, the earlier you seek help, the better.

http://wpr.org/webcasting/m3u/listen78.m3u

Early help for stuttering

Getting help for young children, instead of waiting to see if the outgrow stuttering, will lessen the chance that they stutter as teens and adults.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20080203

Responses to stuttering

Stuttering starts at various ages. It usually begins in young children, but sometimes doesn't start until the teen years or adulthood. I wonder if this is because, for those prone to stutter, they had a relaxed childhood with parents and/or caregivers who had no reaction to the first time their child stuttered. Since stress makes stuttering worse, having a parent react with an "Oh, no! We must fix that" attitude as well as the expression of horror every time their child bumbled while speaking would make the child more sensitive to differences in speech.

Not only do parents of young children need to be informed how to react to their child, but it would be helpful if the entire population understood stuttering and what to do when talking with someone who stutters.

Click on the title of this post to see a chapter from the book "To the Pediatrition" that encourages Pediatritions to counsel parents on their reactions to stuttering moments in their child. If parents of young children get help "before the child has developed a serious social and emotional response to stuttering, prognosis for recovery is good."

Young child suddenly stuttering

I thought this note might help other parents:

My daughter is 3. One day she spoke fine. The next day, she started to stutter. My husband, his brother, and his father stutter. So as soon as I heard her start, I contacted the doctor and the insurance company. Our doctor suggested we find a speech therapist at www.stutteringhelp.org as they are trained to work with stuttering and some therapists know very little about working with someone who stutters.

My daughter met with the speech therapist who took out a picture book and told her to tell her what was in each picture. She made notes of all the letters that our daughter got stuck on. The results were submitted to the insurance company. Therapy was approved for 5 sessions on a weekly basis with a possible 20 more. We scheduled the first 5.

On the first session, the therapist had a playmat with toys telling our daughter to talk about the toys. When our daughter got stuck, the therapist would help her slow down and drag out the letters that she was stuck on.

It went well. Can't wait for the next session.

Talking with a child who stutters

I just read this on a blog:

"Parents and older siblings may have the habit of speaking very quickly, causing a child with emerging speech skills to be intimidated. Slowing down slightly, and even introducing natural pauses such as short hesitations or “ums” will make it easier for young children to participate in the conversation."

I agree with all of that except the "ums" as no child should get in the habit of starting anything in their speech that they won't want there later in life. Any child deserves help so that they can speak well enough to be enjoyed in friendly conversation, while giving a speech, or if addressing an extinguished group of individuals as an adult. Frequent pauses, but no "ums" in my opinion, and I expect the Stuttering Foundation of America, who gives great tips for talking with someone who stutters, would agree.