How Can Stuttering Therapy Help My Child?

Stuttering causes disruption of speech and might be accompanied by certain behavior like tremors of the lips or rapid eye blinks. So, people with this disorder find it difficult to communicate with other people. This can also affect their quality of life and interpersonal relationships. Furthermore, it can even affect their job opportunities and performance. So, if you are someone with this speech disorder, then you might need to consult the best  stuttering speech therapy. 

Stuttering is a disorder of speech that is characterized by the repetition of words, sounds, or syllables, prolongation of sounds, and interruption in speech (blocks). The symptoms of stuttering may depend on a person’s day. For example, talking on the phone, speaking in a group, or talking angrily can make the person severely stutter while reading, singing, and talking with one person can reduce stuttering temporarily. 

The term ‘stuttering’ is sometimes referred to as stammering which means disfluent speech. 

Types of stuttering and its causes

There are two types of stuttering. They are as follows:

• Developmental stuttering

This type of stuttering is the most common form of stuttering and occurs mainly at young age i.e. children while they are in the learning stage of language and speech skills. Some clinicians and scientists believe that this type of stuttering occurs when children’s language and speech abilities are not able to meet the verbal demand of the child. They further believe that developmental stuttering can also be caused by hereditary. 

• Neurogenic stuttering

This type of stuttering mainly occurs in adults. This neurogenic stuttering may develop after head trauma, stroke, and other types of brain injury. When it occurs, the brain has difficulty coordinating with different regions of the brain that involves speaking. This results in problems in producing fluent speech and clarity of voice. 

Stuttering Therapy

Though there is no treatment to cure stuttering however there are various types of treatments available for stuttering. The treatment for stuttering may depend on the communication goals, the person’s age, and other several factors. So, if you or your child stutters, then you might need to consult a speech-language pathologist to determine which type of treatment will benefit you the most.  

Stuttering therapy for children

For children, the pathologist will give early treatment that can help in preventing developmental stuttering from becoming a never-ending problem in one’s life. So, the pathologist will use certain strategies that can help in improving their fluency in speech while developing positivity towards communication.  

Health professionals often recommend the evaluation of a child stuttering for more than 3 to 6 months. The child may also develop struggling behaviors associated with stuttering. While some researchers recommend evaluation every 3 months. This evaluation will help in determining if their stuttering is decreasing or increasing.  

Stuttering therapy for children often involves teaching parents about how they can support their children’s production of fluent speech and clarity. This can include the followings:

• Listening attentively when their child speaks rather than interrupting the child or correcting them.
• Providing a relaxed home environment that gives a lot of opportunities for the child to speak. This can include setting time to talk with your child mostly when they are excited to talk. 
• Speaking in a relaxed and slightly slowed manner. This can help in reducing the time pressure the child is experiencing to speak. 
• Listening attentively when your child speaks and waiting until they say the intended word they wanted to say. Do not try to complete their sentence. Further, help your child learn that a person with stutters can communicate successfully. 
• Talk honestly and openly if your child brings up the subject of stuttering. Let your child know that it is okay to have stuttering. 

Moreover, stuttering therapy can include regulating breathing, speaking slowly, and gradually progressing in speaking longer sentences with less stutter. This therapy can also help in addressing the anxiety of a person.