Tips for Parents

On my last post I talked about why parents should not ignore their child's stuttering. So what should they do?

For all you parents whose children happen to stutter, here are a few things you could try:\

1. Speak with your child in an unhurried way, pausing frequently.
2. Reduce the number of questions you ask your child.
3. Use your facial expressions and other body language to convey to your child that you are listening to the content of her speech and not how she's talking.
4. Set aside a few minutes at a regular time each day when you can give your undivided attention to your child.
5. Help all members of the family learn to take turns talking and listening.
6. Observe the way you interact with your child.
7. Above all, convey that you accept your child as he or she is.

Hands off to Hands on (at an early age)

Parents who notice their young child beginning to stutter and should seek help right away.
That is AFTER they are five. Many children have minor speech disfluencies when they are very young and they should become normal at around five years of age. I they continue to have
I read an article in the that stated that contrary to the past belief that paying attention to a child's stuttering will worsen the problem. However, research by Adud Yari, speech-language pathologist and researcher at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and Tel-Aviv University. that children may be aware of the difference between fluent speech and stuttering as early as age three and they will have a desire to fix that as early as four. As Jane Franser president of the Stuttering Foundation said,"Any time Parents are concerned about a child's fluency, they should educate themselves about the disorder and the many ways they can work to prevent stuttering from becoming a chronic problem." So experts urge parents to get more involved in their children and not follow the popular "hands-off" theory.

For parents, there is a great new book called "If Your Child Stutters: A Guide for Parents." It describes the difference between normal disfluencies and actual stuttering and contains tips for parents on ways to help their child immediately. I think stuttering is a problem that should be treated early with parental help, just like bad handwriting. Either that or grow out of it. If neither, then one should learn to control their stuttering instead of it controlling them.