Sunday was International Stuttering Awareness Day. Throughout my years as a speech/language pathologist, I have received many questions from concerned parents, grandparents, and friends regarding stuttering.
There is some confusion surrounding this disorder but there is also a considerable amount of research and helpful information readily available for parents, teachers, and all those concerned with stuttering. In my experience, most concerns are from parents questioning whether their child is stuttering or exhibiting normal disfluencies. But In some cases, the concerns have come from people who are unsure of how to communicate with someone who is stuttering.
What is stuttering?
Stuttering is a communication disorder that interferes with the normal flow of speech. It usually begins between the ages of two and four. It is typically characterized by repetitions, prolongations, and blockages of sounds, syllables or words. A small percentage of children outgrow stuttering but if the child has been stuttering longer than three years, it is unlikely the child will outgrow his /her stuttering. Exact causes are unknown but researchers believe that it likely results from a combination of factors including child development, neurophysiology, genetics, and family dynamics. Stuttering is not caused by psychological differences nor intellectual differences. It can be cyclical; the frequency and severity of a child’s stuttering can change over a period of a few weeks or months. Children who stutter may be self-conscious of their stuttering and feel frustrated, anxious, or even embarrassed while other children may not have any negative feelings associated with talking. Each child reacts differently to their stuttering disorder.
How to distinguish between stuttering and normal disfluencies
Between the ages of two and six years, almost all children will begin to repeat sounds, syllables and whole words when they are speaking. The amount and consistency varies from child to child and from situation to situation. Normal disfluencies present as occasional (less than once every 10 sentences) brief (less than 1/2 a second) repetitions of sounds syllable or short words such as li-light or you-you, or ca ca can. Stuttering episodes are more frequent (3 or more every 10 sentences), long (longer than 1/2 a second) repetitions of sounds, syllables, and short words such as li-li-li-light, f-f-f-f-arm, ba-ba-ba-baby, Prolongations (llllllight), blockages ( mouth is positioned to produce a sound but nothing comes out) and behaviors such as eye blinking, pitch changes, muscle tension, and frustration may be present.
How do you communicate with a child who stutters?
The main goal is to help the child develop healthy attitudes and feelings about talking. Let the child know that it is okay to stutter. We want to make talking easier for the child. Be a good communicator yourself.
• Reduce the pace. Saying “slow down” is not helpful to the child. Try and speak in an unhurried manner, and reduce the rate of your own speech. Pause frequently and model a slower rate.
• Listen to the child. Give them your full attention and use good eye contact. Let the child know you want to hear what they have to say and not how they are saying it.
• Do not bombard child with questions. Ask one question at a time and wait for their response. Allow child to finish. Give plenty of time to respond.
• Take turns. It is very natural to interrupt. Help everyone participating in the conversation to take turns talking and listening. No need to give more time to the child who stutters.
• Don’t complete words for child. Do not talk for them.
• Build Confidence. Focus on child’s strengths other than talking. Are they helpful, responsible, thoughtful?
• Use your facial expressions and body language to convey to your child that you have time to hear what they have to say. If you do not have the time, explain to the child rather than hurrying the child.
• Avoid performance requests. Try not to ask your child to perform in front of others. If they want to perform, let them initiate this on their own.
• Reassure child that it is okay to stutter.
M.Theresa Wylie MS.,CCC/SLP