HOW TO HELP THE CHILD WHO
STUTTERS
Some suggestions for parents and teachers
The following suggestions are for the guidance of
parents and teachers who have under their care children
who repeat sounds in speaking or who hesitate or stall
in trying to get words out:-
What to do?
1. Keep the child in as good physical condition as
possible.
2. Be particularly careful to see that he gets plenty of
rest and does not become too fatigued after playing or
working.
3. Avoid letting the child get too excited or
over-stimulated. Avoid emotional scenes.
4. Keep the child out of situations where he has to
compete in speech with other children, even with
children of the same family.
5. Give the child a felling that he is loved and
appreciated by those around him.
6. Encourage the child to talk freely and often about
his interests and experiences. Show an interest in what
he tells you.
7. Always maintain a calm, quite, relaxed attitude
yourself, while listening or talking to the child. He
will then feel more relaxed also and have less tendency
to block in speech.
8. Give the child the feeling that he can have plenty
of time to finish what he wants to say without hurrying.
Be patient.
9. Speak slowly and quitely yourself.
10. Avoid any direct reference to the child's speech
difficulty unless he asks you about it himself. The less
a child is aware of having anything wrong with his
speech the better are his chances of acquiring fluent
speech. This is especially the case with very young
child.
11. Arrange situations at home and at schools so that
the child will frequently meet with success when he has
tried to do his best. Success and praise will help to
build up much needed self-confidence.
12. Develop the child's abilities and talents. This
will help him to gain confidence in himself and win the
respect of his associates.
13. If oral recitation in school seems hard for the
child because of his speech difficulty, he should be
told privately by his teacher that he will not be called
on.He will thus know what to expect and be less anxious.
At the same time the teacher should encourage him to
volunteer as often as he can and quitely give approval
to these attempts. When he does recite he should be
listened to patiently and not made to feel that he is in
any way different from the other children.
What not to do?
1. Never make fun of the child or mimic his speech. Do
not allow others to do it also. Much can be done by a
teacher to reduce ridicule by class-mates.
2. Do not show impatience, annoyance, embarrassment
or worry at the child's slowness or difficulty in
speaking.
3. Do not finish the child's remarks for him or
supply words, even when you are sure of what he is going
to say. This only increases his feelings of inferiority.
4. Do not tell him to talk slowly, to stop and think
before he speaks, to take a deep breath, to keep calm
etc. This procedure more than any other turns a fairly
"happy stutterer into a laboured spasm type which tends
to "stick".
5. Do not ask him to stop talking or to repeat his
remarks when he has had difficulty.
6. Do not under any condition blame, punish or shame
the child for speaking poorly. He is unable to help it
and criticism will only make it worse.
7. Do not force the child to speak in front of people
especially strangers, unless he himself wishes to.
8. Never discuss the child's speech difficulty in his
presence unless he asks you about it.
9. Do not force a left-handed child to use his right
hand.
10. Do not be too exacting or strict in what you
expect the child to accomplish. On the other hand, do
not baby him.
11.Do not tell a child to relax. He tenses himself in
the effort.
12. Do not encourage procedures such as clasping
hands, stamping feet etc.,or before long these will be
an indispensable part of speech.
You will render most effective aid by studying these
suggestions closely and by applying them carefully.
