MEMPHIS — Parents who notice their young child beginning to stutter should seek help right away according to the nonprofit Stuttering Foundation.
“In the past, experts incorrectly believed that paying attention to the child’s stuttering would exacerbate the situation,” said speech-language pathologist Lisa Scott, Ph.D. of The Florida State University. “Children who stutter will have significantly less disfluent speech and a higher recovery rate if they are treated when they are young.”
To help parents gain a better understand of stuttering, the Foundation offers free streaming video of Stuttering and Your Child: Help for Parents at www.stutteringhelp.org. The site also offers a worldwide referral list to specialists in stuttering.
According to a major new study published in the British Medical Journal, young children who received early treatment reduced their stuttering by 77 percent compared with a drop of just 43 percent among a second group of children who were not treated.
The Australian Stuttering Research Centre conducted the study involving 54 children between the ages of 3 and 6 years old. There were 29 children who received treatment and 25 who received little or no treatment.
“The Stuttering Foundation has long been a proponent for early childhood intervention,”
Parents, teachers and others who have questions about stuttering can call the Foundation’s helpline at 800-992-9392, visit Web sites, www.stutteringhelp.org and www.tartamudez.org, or e-mail info@stutteringhelp.org.
Tips for talking with a child who stutters:
1. Don’t tell the child to slow down or “relax” but make an effort to slow your own speech.
2. Speak with the child in an unhurried way, pausing frequently. Wait a few seconds after the child finishes speaking before you begin to speak. This slows down the overall pace of conversation.
3. Use your facial expressions, eye contact, and other body language to convey to the child that you are listening to the content of her message and not how she is talking.
4. Don’t complete words for the child or talk for him.
5. Don’t make stuttering something to be ashamed of. Talk about stuttering just like any other matter.
Source: The Stuttering Foundation of America, www.stutteringhelp.org.
Seeking Help?
The Stuttering Foundation of America offers:
- A toll-free help line at 800-992-9392.
- Free streaming video and downloadable brochures at www.stutteringhelp.org.
- Responses to frequently asked questions and a referral list to specialists at www.stutteringhelp.org.
