7 Tips For Talking With Your Child

Experts agree that most children who stutter benefit from taking time to speak at a rate that promotes fluency. These guidelines represent a number of ways that adults around that child can help promote the child’s fluency.

1. Reduce the pace. Speak with your child in an unhurried way, pausing frequently. Wait a few seconds after your child finishes before you begin to speak. Your own easy relaxed speech will be far more effective than any advice such as “slow down” or “try it again slowly. For some children, it is also helpful to introduce a more relaxed pace of life for awhile.

2. Full listening. Try to increase those times that you give your child your undivided attention and are really listening. This does not mean dropping everything every time she speaks.

3. Asking questions. Asking questions is a normal part of life – but try to resist asking one after the other. Sometimes it is more helpful to comment on what your child has said and wait.

4. Turn taking. Help all members of the family take turns talking and listening. Children find it much easier to talk when there are fewer interruptions.

5. Building confidence. Use descriptive praise to build confidence. An example would be “I like the way you picked up your toys. You’re so helpful,” instead of “that’s great.” Praise strengths unrelated to talking as well such as athletic skills, being organized, independent, or careful.

6. Special times. Set aside a few minutes at a regular time each day when you can give your undivided attention to your child. This quiet calm time – no TV, iPad or phones - can be a confidence builder for young children. As little as five minutes a day can make a difference.

7. Normal rules apply. Discipline the child who stutters just as you do your other children and just as you would if he didn’t stutter.

Sometimes I Just Stutter

by Eelco de Geus

This 40 page book is a wonderful way for kids to discover more about stuttering in an open and encouraging way. It lets them know that the harder they try not to stutter, the more they may do so. Letters to brothers and sisters, grandparents, teachers, and others let children take the lead in educating the people in their environment. The personal letters written by other kids who stutter help to normalize stuttering and let readers know that they are not alone.

"...counseling children to accept their stuttering is a means of working directly on stuttered speech. Because if a child is encouraged to go ahead and stutter, they then can change it. But if a child is encouraged to not stutter, this perpetuates the negative reaction." Barry Guitar, Ph.D.

Also available on Amazon.com as a Kindle.

8 Tips For Teachers

1. Don’t tell the student “slow down” or “ just relax.”

2. Don’t complete words for the student or talk for him or her.

3. Help all members of the class learn to take turns talking and listening. All students — and especially those who stutter — find it much easier to talk when there are few interruptions and they have the listener’s attention.

4. Expect the same quality and quantity of work from the student who stutters as the one who doesn’t.

5. Speak with the student in an unhurried way, pausing frequently.

6. Convey that you are listening to the content of the message, not how it is said.

7. Have a one-on-one conversation with the student who stutters about needed accommodations in the classroom. Respect the student’s needs, but do not be enabling.

8. Don’t make stuttering something to be ashamed of. Talk about stuttering just like any other matter.

Compiled by Lisa Scott, Ph.D., The Florida State University

A video of children discussing stuttering