How To Manage Your Child’s Stammering.
Or maybe your child’s stammering has been coming and going now for a
number of months; with your child experiencing improved talking for some
weeks, only for the stammer to return…
Instant Access to WLS Series Now!
Or perhaps, you have noticed, with utter despair how gradually your child’s fluency is deteriorating with each passing day
Gone from being a fluent speaker to now being able to get a word out even a commonly used word like “mama”
Has your child suddenly (and I mean suddenly)
And this is
because nothing
prepares you
for it...
I think a child starting to stutter/stammer would have to be one of the most
if not THE most distressing realisation…
For most stutter onsets, your child would have
been ‘stutter-free’ or ‘smooth’ before the stutter
appears. Which means, your child would have
been able to communicate effortlessly and may
have even been quite advanced for their age
before the stuttering appeared
Watching your child struggling to say words
they had no problem saying before is
heartbreaking
You call your own family to find out if you used
to stutter as a child or if anyone else in the family
had had a stutter
You try to troubleshoot what about your
environment could be triggering this behaviour
Would people be cruel to them?
Will they be able to express themselves when you’re not there?
Your mind races at record speeds to what life would be like for your child…
You wonder what you could do to help your child ‘overcome’ their stutter. Does stuttering have to be a lifelong condition?
Absolutely not!
Yet for most children who stutter, if the stutter is not addressed effectively, the
stutter could end up getting progressively worse
Which means, if the stutter started out as mild or infrequent, with time, the stutter
can end up being moderate or severe
Why is that?
Well, stuttering happens to have
associated factors as well as environmental factors
that could make stuttering worsen with time
What are these associated factors?
Limited Confidence
Anxiety
Environmental factors
Research has shown that people who stutter
tend to display heightened anxiety levels, especially
around speaking situations
People who stutter are less likely to display higher confidence levels
(more so for people who have been stuttering for extended periods of time)
especially in situations that involve speaking
This means, if you have a child who stutters, they are less likely compared to
children who speak fluently, to raise their hand in class to ask a question.
How could these factors
contribute to the worsening of the stutter?
At home, they are less likely to join in a discussion or an argument
Limited Confidence
Imagine if you had any negative feelings associated with presenting in
front of many people (or your boss), how do you think your presentations
would go during these situations?
Over time, anxiety can make a child who stutters avoid speaking situations
Anxiety can also make a child who stutters fearful (or anxious) about speaking
situations, which in turn can negatively impact on their speaking fluency
Anxiety
INSTANT ACCESS TO WLS SERIES NOW!
Environmental factors
Similarly, there are environmental situations that can also contribute to the
worsening of a stutter
It is unfortunate that people (including children) who stutter hardly every receive
positive feedback (or praise) associated with how they speak
In fact, children who stutter might not even receive many other positive feedback
about anything related to speaking
No one ever tells them they are speaking well
Or that they have great ideas
Or that their story was wonderful
“Why do you talk like that?”
“Why does your brother/sister speak like that?”
“Stop saying x x x”
INSTEAD, they are more likely to hear
remarks such as,
All these reactions to how a child (or person) stutters can affect how they
view themselves or their speaking abilities, which in turn, can make the stutter
worsen over time
Imagine only hearing negative feedback about how you did a
particular thing, how confident would you feel about attempting that
thing...not so confident, right?
Whilst stuttering has ‘no cure’, early intervention is definitely the key to ensuring
that stuttering does not spiral out of control or becomes exacerbated.
Early intervention is the earliest possible ‘intervention’ or ‘therapy’ aimed at
addressing your child’s communication issue.
So, what can be done to ‘manage’ a child’s stutter?
In the case of stuttering, early intervention would be the earliest ‘therapy’ your
child receives after the onset of their stutter (appearance of their stutter)
Research has found that the sooner therapy is
sought after the onset of the stutter, the higher
the likelihood that your child would be able to
‘manage’ their stutter
In my 15+ years of experience as a speech therapist,
stuttering is one of the conditions I am able to improve
outcomes for, if it is addressed early.
This means, if you address your child’s stutter as soon as you notice it, the
greater the chance that they will be able to speak smoothly.
If your child has been stuttering for days, weeks, or even months...
They stand a great chance of being able to speak fluently if they receive the
right kind of therapy.
And the good news is...
Anybody can do what I do and get the same amazing results!
For most children who come in for therapy shortly after they start stuttering,
parents see results within a few weeks on commencing therapy
Obviously the results vary depending on individual circumstances - severity,
family history or even psychosocial issues
How to determine if your child has a
stutter/stammer or not
Characteristics of stuttering
How to determine the severity of your child’s stutter
What you can start to do to reduce the symptoms
Discussion of one effective treatment
program shown to significantly
improve stuttering outcomes for
children 6 years and below
How to easily implement this program
from home
What you will learn from
these
video series:
When you purchase the series, you will get:
4 short videos of me ‘teaching’ the important bits about stuttering
and how to help your child ‘manage’ their stutter
2 demo videos of how to carry out some of the techniques
discussed in the ‘lecture’ videos
Your child used to talk fluently, but appears to have developed a
dysfluency in their speech
Who are these video series for?
Does this describe your situation;
Your child is aged below 4 years, or if older than 4 (but below 6 years),
only recently developed the stammer
Your child appears to prefer independent play, and often doesn’t
co-operate when engaged in play
Your child is beginning to show frustration at his/her change of fluency
You would like to find out if this is indeed a stammer/stutter or just a
‘passing cloud’ that you needn’t worry about
You would like to learn some tips on how to support
your child through this ‘phase’
How do I access the video series?
No one can promise a ‘cure’ for stuttering, however, there are some effective strategies, which if applied consistently, can ‘manage’ your child’s stuttering.
These video series teach some strategies that can help manage the stutter for
children who are aged below 6 years.
2.Will this ‘cure’ my child’s stammer?
How do I access the video series?
After you purchase the video series, you’ll get an email from us with
instructions for logging into your course.
1. How do I access the video series?
No general course could ever replace an individualised speech therapy program.
That said, these videos are meant to give you immediately implementable tips
should you realise or suspect that your child has developed a stutter.
3. Do these videos replace face-to-face speech therapy?
I have found that parents who suspect their child may have a stutter,
can in the time between the onset and seeking evaluation, inadvertently
contribute to a worsening of the stutter.
INSTANT ACCESS TO WLS SERIES NOW!
These series can help you support your child’s speech, by acting as a stop-gap
measure until you are in a position to seek evaluation from a speech therapist. In
best case scenarios, these series can help get your child to become stutter-free.
The tips I share here can also be used in conjunction with your
child’s speech therapy plan.
