How to respond supportively
to your child's stuttering
For the child
who is showing clearly negative responses to stuttering,
possibly with evident secondary behaviors such as pushing
or struggling, it may be more appropriate for parents to
respond to the speech difficulties in a manner that validates
the child's feelings. If your child is aware of and responding
negatively to their stuttering, we offer the following example
to illustrate how a parent can respond supportively and
appropriately to their child's speech difficulities:
If
you were watching your child struggle with a task such as
getting dressed, and you saw that he was getting frustrated,
you would say something like, "Getting dressed can
be hard, can't it?" This gives your child an opportunity
to express his feelings and reassures him that it is no
big deal to have trouble with that task. You would probably
then ask if you can help. So your child then experiences
relief and learns to expect a helpful or comforting response
from you in times of difficulty or frustration. The same
should apply when your child is having speech difficulties
and is showing frustration over those difficulties. When
you choose to ignore a struggled moment of stuttering, you
may inadvertently send a mixed message. your child may wonder
why you are not responding in the way he has come to expect,
and become concerned. Instead of ignoring these difficult
moments, you can validate their feelings with a simple response
such as, "That was hard, wasn't it? Mommy and Daddy
have trouble talking sometimes, too. Would you like me to
help you with that word?" At this point you can start
to say the word together with your child if he wants, or
you can simply demonstrate (we call it modeling) saying
the word slowly and easily. If you and your child say the
word together, this will ensure that he experiences success
saying the word that he stuttered on. Responding with help
and support will reassure your child and help to lessen
his negative response to the stuttering.
We caution parents
to limit how often they acknowledge moments of stuttering
and to carefully choose only the most difficult speech situations
to address. Teaching parents a more proactive approach empowers
them and can cause dramatic changes in the progression of
the disorder for many young children.
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How to manage turn taking
Protecting
you child’s talk time and limiting interruptions can
have a positive effect on the child’s fluency. We
recommend that the entire family try to support consistent
turn-taking during conversations. This may be difficult
to manage, especially with siblings, during family time.
We have had great success with recommending that families
use a “turn-taking” symbol to help them manage
turn taking within the family. Simply find an object that
family members can hold to designate whose turn it is to
talk. Any small, inanimate object will do, such as a special
rock, a large fancy spoon, a statue of some sort, or a toy.
Whoever is holding the object has the floor and is allowed
to continue talking as long as he or she has possession
of the object. When finished speaking, you simply pass the
object to the next person who wishes to talk. This strategy
is especially effective around the dinner table or in the
car. Once your family has become more aware of good turn-taking
skills, verbal reminders alone will be sufficient, and use
of the turn-taking symbol can be discontinued.
Tips
for Parents