How to help a child stop stuttering

Stuttering Exercises For Your Child at Home

“Oh, you should just speak slowly,” “maybe it’s the anxiety getting to you”- children who stutter have heard these suggestions ad nauseam.

Do they help reduce their stutter? No. Does it make them become more conscious of their speech disfluency? Yes!

The truth is anxiety, fear, or shyness do not cause stammering. Children who stutter or stammer may do so more frequently when they have to talk in front of their classmates, new people or unfamiliar situations. However emotions do not precipitate stuttering.

Modern sciences have found multiple mutations on several chromosomes that correspond to stuttering. These mutations can be heritable, although the male population is more susceptible to stuttering than the female population. 60% of the people who stutter have a family history of stuttering.

So, is there anything you can do to help a child who stutters? Well, of course. You can, for instance, help your child practice stuttering exercises at home.

Before we start discussing the top stuttering exercises to help your child, let's understand the basics.

Why Is Stuttering Common Among Preschool-aged Children?

In the case of preschool-aged children who stutter (CWS), speech therapy, regular speech exercises and practice can reduce and may even eliminate stuttering. Stuttering is common in children between the ages of 2.5 years and 3 years, when they are acquiring their language skills at an incredible speed. Such stuttering is known as developmental stuttering, and it is common in children; it disappears on its own within a few months.

Many speech therapists recommend waiting and observing a child’s speech if s/he has been stuttering for significantly less than 6 months. If they have been stuttering for more than 6 to 12 months, parents of CWS should seek the help of a speech-language pathologist or speech therapist.

Who Is At A High Risk Of Stuttering?

Stuttering or stammering is quite common. According to experts, many children experience stuttering when learning a new language or expanding their vocabulary at a rapid pace. Children outgrow their stammering on their own in many cases, but it might become a lifelong condition for some. High risk factors include –

A family history of stuttering.
Incidence of stuttering for more than 12 months.
The child is male. Girls recover faster. A girl who has been stuttering for more than 12 months is at a higher risk of persistent stuttering.
A child who begins stuttering later (onset after 3.5 years of age) has higher chance of persistent stuttering.

Children on the autism spectrum have a high risk of developing stuttering at an early age. Other disorders and conditions that co-occur with stuttering include ADHD, Tourette’s Syndrome (TS), hearing impairments, central auditory processing disorder, and cerebral palsy.

How Will You Know If Your Child Is Stuttering?

Developmental stuttering has a few signs that are hard to miss. These symptoms of stuttering include –

Difficulty in starting a word, sentence, or phrase
Repetition of a syllable, an entire word, or a particular sound
Breaking of words or undue pausing, and missing syllables
Prolongation of parts of words or entire words
Adding sounds like “um” or “uh” at the beginning of the next word

Along with these signs, you can also notice the following –

Twitching or trembling of the lips and/or jaw
Tightening of facial muscles
Clenching fists
Rapid and abrupt blinking
Jerking of the head

If a child experiences physical duress while trying to get the words out, it may signify a serious stammering problem. You may also notice their voice changing pitch and rising with each repetition.

These are the signs that you need to take proactive measures to help ease your child’s stuttering instead of waiting for it to ride itself out.

What Should You Do If You Notice Your Child Stuttering?

You should seek the help of a speech-language therapist. It might sound intimidating, but speech therapy for children can consist of quite a few simple stammering exercises at home moderated by their parents.

In many cases, the SLP takes an indirect approach and talks to the parents and other members of the family.. The stuttering treatment for kids aims at reducing the family’s concern and altering their family-child interactions.

What Are Some Exercises Parents Can Do With Children To Reduce Stuttering?

At Stamurai, we are always here, to help you understand speech therapy for stuttering and its implications. Here are some of the most common activities your SLP might ask you to do with your child –

1. Adopting a Slower Rate Of Speech With Pauses

A slower rate of speech has two purposes –

It serves as a model for your child. S/he can learn what a more fluent and smoother way of speaking sounds like.
It makes your child feel less rushed. They realize they can take more time to respond and be more fluent.

Here’s how we sound most of the time while holding a conversation with a fellow fluent adult – “hey, howryoutoday?”

While talking to your child, you might want to talk like this “Heey, How aare yoou today?”

You can also add more pauses to your speech to make it slower, but sound more natural. So, instead of your usual rushed speech, try to…taallk…more like…this. The…slight pauses…throughout your speech…will make you…sound more…relaxed…and calm.

You can also try to stretch the first word of every sentence “aaaaas you play or converse with your child.” Adding the extra stretch to the first word will show your child how to ease into a word and embrace fluency naturally in conversations.

2. Introducing Syllable-Timed Speech

Syllable-timed speech (STS) technique can reduce your child’s stuttering by almost 96% in around 12 months. However, it only works if you practice it with your child every day!

Here’s how you can include syllable-timed speech in your daily conversations with your child –

Speak. like. this. Each. per. iod. rep. re. sents. a. break. in. the. syll. a. bles. of. the. words. in. a. sent. ence.

Children under the age of 6-years can reduce their stuttering by 96% if they practice syllable timed speech for 10 minutes, 4-6 times per day for 12 months.

It might be difficult for you to syllable-time your speech in daily conversations. You can master it easily before you try it with your child by tapping your leg for each syllable.

You can learn more about STS from this video

If you feel weird speaking with syllable-timed speech at first, it’s completely understandable. Keep your voice normal and speak at a normal speed. Simply think of it as adding “finite limits around each syllable” during your daily conversations.

3. Trying Reduced Demands

A child who stutters, finds it difficult to start a conversation spontaneously. All we need you to do is dial down the demands around speaking.

Research on child psychology shows that asking too many questions can make your child feel stressed or anxious, which can worsen his or her stuttering. So let them share their emotions, knowledge and experiences spontaneously.

Allow your child to take the lead on what they want to discuss, play or watch. Do not finish their sentences or guess what they’re trying to say. Give them the time to finish their own sentences.

Instead of asking them questions, make close-ended comments. For example, instead of asking “hey, what are you playing there?” you can say, “I see you are playing Minecraft.”

Learning comes naturally to children and there’s little reason to believe that not asking enough questions will set his or her learning process back.

4 Adopting New Verbal Responses

Verbal responses are like giving your child feedback on their speech. Since children’s brains have high plasticity (ability to learn new things), they can learn to speak fluently even when you don’t teach your child complex speech therapy techniques.

Here are the five verbal responses you can use while talking to your child –

When they are fluent –

Make sure to praise them. Say “that was great buddy”, “hey, no bumps” and “I’m loving your smooth speech man.”

You can ask them to evaluate their own speech like “do you think that was better than before”, “was that smooth.”

Acknowledge their smooth speech by saying “That was really smooth,” and “smooth again.”

When they are having a bad day or stuttering, you can –

Acknowledge their stutter by saying something like, “that got stuck there a little” or “that was a difficult word.”

You can ask for self-correction. “Can you say that again for me?”

However, not every child reacts positively to comments on their stutter or self-correction. If your child reacts negatively, simply drop it.

Stick to positive verbal responses only. Make sure you give them at least 5 positive responses for every 1 comment on their bumpy speech.

5 Increasing Listening Time

Children who stutter have trouble expressing themselves. Having a family member lend a listening ear can make a significant difference in the child's attitude towards his or her own speech. Be sure to dedicate some "listening time" each day for your child.

It can be after play school when they have a lot to share about their experiences, or right before the child heads out for their playtime. Quality listening time lets your child know that you “are there” for him or her although you should intentionally make sure not to make suggestions or give instructions, especially on their speech during this time!

Attentive playtime with the child can show significant improvement in a child’s speech. For example, mirroring a child’s expression during the playtime with vocal cues, like sounds of disappointment when the child’s face shows the same emotions can build confidence in the child, in the long run.

You should let your child lead you during the interactive playtime which should also be unstructured, spontaneous, and enjoyable for your child.

Wrapping It Up

When your child is showing symptoms of stuttering which includes repetitions, prolongations, and blocks, you should immediately consult a reputed speech therapist. A professional will take into account your child’s predisposition towards stuttering, the severity and suggest stuttering treatment(s) accordingly.

These stuttering exercises are commonly suggested by speech therapists. Practicing them at home can help your child attain more fluency and confidence while sharing their thoughts.

Frequesntly Asked Questions

Does the Drink-through-a-straw technique help a child who stutters?

For several decades different sources have advocated the drink through a straw technique as an exercise for stuttering in children. Sadly, there is no evidence that supports the claim. Currently, there is no published study that shows that drinking through a straw can reduce a child’s stuttering. However, there are several other stuttering exercises like the ones we have discussed above that you can teach your child at home.

Can the ‘Jaw technique’ help reduce stuttering in children?

The jaw-technique involves opening your mouth as wide as possible and lifting the tip of your tongue towards the roof of your mouth. This exercise may strengthen the jaw and tongue muscles, but it may not contribute to your child’s speech fluency! Fluent speech requires more than strong articulator muscles. Exercising jaw muscles won’t be enough to reduce stuttering in children.

Does parents’ lifestyle affect a child's stuttering?

When your child begins stuttering, it’s only normal to feel worried, helpless and, even, guilty. You may think that you have been too strict with your child or not spent enough time with them which has caused them to stutter. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Stuttering typically clusters in families and there are multiple genetic factors that contribute to the childhood-onset fluency disorder. Sometimes, stress from moving to a new neighborhood, joining a new school, and sudden changes at home like the birth of a new sibling may trigger stuttering in already predisposed children. However, it is highly unlikely that your lifestyle has caused your child’s stuttering.

Should family members avoid stuttering in front of a child who stutters?

Stuttering is a fluency disorder that sometimes clusters in families. This shows that stuttering has a hereditary (genetic) component. However, if you stutter, there is no guarantee that your child will stutter as well. If you are an adult who stutters, you should not feel the pressure to hide your stuttering in front of your child. Children cannot acquire speech disfluencies by watching or mimicking a family member who stutters. In fact, you should speak confidently without hiding your stutter to send the message that your child can speak without shame and embarrassment, even if they stutter.

How soon can your child learn to manage his stuttering with speech therapy exercises?

When a child begins to stutter, the parents should think about consulting a speech-language pathologist (SLP) as soon as possible. Early intervention improves the chances of the child overcoming stuttering. Early-onset stuttering may show up when the child is as young as 22 months. You can seek help from a speech therapist as soon as your child is around 3 years old if they are showing signs of stuttering. SLPs do not recommend speech exercises for very young, preschool-aged children since it hinders the natural development of language. There are no firm guidelines on the appropriate age for beginning stuttering therapy. SLPs typically recommend beginning it within the first 6 to 12 months after you notice the signs of stuttering. Indirect speech therapy like the Lidcombe Program is particularly effective in helping the parents apply verbal positive reinforcements that can help reduce stuttering in young children.

Can you treat a stuttering child at home?

It is indeed possible to guide your child and help them with stuttering exercises at home. However, it is advisable to seek the counsel of a speech-language pathologist (SLP) or speech therapist for assessing your child’s progress. Simply helping a child who stutters and teaching them the exercises isn’t enough. You should be able to quantify their improvement with every passing month. An SLP can teach you how to measure the severity and rate of stuttering, plan the exercise and activities for maximum positive results, and provide the updated information on stuttering therapy that your child may need.

How to help a stuttering child at home?

To help a stuttering child at home, begin by asking fewer questions. Always take time to listen to them and don’t finish their sentences. Try to speak to them slowly and don’t rush them when they are trying to respond to you. If your child is old enough to understand that their speech is different from that of their peers, learn about stuttering and tell them the facts. Educating your child about stuttering is one way to empower them.

Preschool stuttering – what can parents do?

Stuttering in preschoolers is more common than you think. If your preschool-aged child begins showing signs and symptoms of stuttering, you can help them by slowing the rate of your speech. Try to ask them fewer questions. When they talk to you, try to listen with undivided attention. If they are struggling with a word or phrase, don’t complete it for them. Instead, you can politely ask them to repeat it once for you. Always use positive reinforcement and refrain from scolding, criticizing, and comparing their speech with their peers. You should always consult a speech-language pathologist (SLP) when you notice your child stuttering.

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Here’s How to Help Your Child Overcome Stuttering

If your child stutters, it can be so frustrating for them to try to communicate, and difficult for you to watch them struggle to say what they’re thinking. You may wonder what’s causing your child to battle with stuttering.

“Stuttering is poorly understood,” said Tamara Zach, MD, a pediatric neurologist with Banner Children’s Specialists Neurology Clinic in Glendale. “It occurs in children who are still learning to speak, and some experts think children stutter when their language abilities don’t meet their verbal demands. ”

Here’s what could put your child at higher risk of stuttering

Children are most likely to stutter between 2 and 6 years old. “That’s when they are attaining language skills,” Dr. Zach said. Boys are two to three times more likely to stutter than girls. Stuttering can run in families, so genetics also play a role.

Here’s when you should seek help for your child’s stuttering

Most children outgrow stuttering, but professional care can help. “Getting help earlier is better, especially if your child has other developmental difficulties,” Dr. Zach said. Talk to an expert if your child’s stuttering causes frustration or keeps them from speaking up in school or in social situations. Stuttering that lasts longer than six months could become a lifelong problem.

Even if it’s likely that your child will outgrow stuttering, treatment is still important. That’s because it can cause delays in learning and developing social skills. Younger children who have a hard time expressing themselves can become irritable and aggressive. “I have seen many kids start banging their heads due to speech delays,” Dr. Zach said. In older children, stuttering can lead to self-esteem issues, social phobias, anxiety and bullying.

Here’s how experts can treat stuttering

A therapist can help your child learn to minimize stuttering by teaching them to speak slowly and to regulate their breathing. Over time your child can move on from single-syllable words to longer words and sentences.

Sometimes, medications that treat epilepsy, depression and anxiety can be used in addition to therapy to help treat stuttering. They are typically only used short term.

Researchers are evaluating the changes that occur in the brain when people stutter and investigating whether electronic devices placed in the ear could help. They are also designing computer programs that can help a person who stutters identify speech patterns that cause stuttering and speech patterns that minimize it.

Here’s how parents can help

Therapists can teach parents strategies that can help their child overcome stuttering. “A combination of home practice and therapy works best,” Dr. Zach said. Parents can:

Provide a relaxed and supportive home environment
Take time to listen to the child and to focus on their message
Speak slowly to their child
Let the child talk without completing their sentences
Help their child understand that they can communicate even when they are stuttering
Be open and accepting

The bottom line

Stuttering in young children is common, and many children outgrow it. But treatment can help ease frustration and improve communication. If you would like to talk to a health care professional about your child’s stuttering, Banner Health can help.

What to do if a child stutters?

Stuttering is a fairly common problem in children. But this is a fixable situation if you approach it correctly and start working on time. How to do this, says Anna Ershova, specialist in rehabilitation work at the Izmailovo family center in the capital.

Stuttering is a speech disorder that can manifest itself in stammering, repetition, stretching of syllables and sounds. It is accompanied by muscle tension (convulsions) of the organs of articulation, respiration, and voice. " Most often, stuttering occurs between the ages of two and five years, when there is a rapid development of phrasal speech. By the way, it should be noted that about 5% of children suffer from stuttering. And in boys, this diagnosis is noted 3-4 times more often than in girls , ”Anna Yershova notes.

Stuttering can occur acutely, i.e. suddenly, due to a mental trauma - fright, conflict, unexpected change in lifestyle (for example, a child began attending kindergarten, a younger child was born in the family) or increase gradually.

The likelihood of stuttering increases if one of the close relatives suffers from the disease, with frequent respiratory diseases, even with impaired attention. After all, attention and speech are closely related: if a child is easily distracted, mentally jumps from one to another, then the speech design of thought loses its rhythm.

“In case of acute stuttering, the first thing to do is to eliminate the situation that traumatizes the child's psyche. Avoid anything that overly excites or upsets the child. Cancel attending entertainment events, watching TV programs, receiving guests. Pay attention to healthy sleep, observe the silence mode. Try to speak more slowly. Walk more in the fresh air, draw, sculpt. Strengthen the nervous system through games with sand, water, it is also useful to sing a lot, move to calm music ", - the specialist notes.

The speech condition of stuttering children may change. At times the child speaks well, and suddenly worsens. Usually parents associate this with the time of year (in spring and autumn, hesitation intensifies) or the time of day (some children, waking up, are capricious and stutter more; others stutter more in the evening, tired of daytime activities). There are children in whom deterioration occurs after an illness. It can be said that undulation is characteristic of the course of stuttering.

“You should definitely visit a neurologist, speech therapist, psychologist. The neurologist will be able to determine the reasons that led to the violation of speech function. To do this, the specialist will need to conduct a series of studies of the brain and central nervous system, then prescribe medication. A speech therapist will help you breathe properly when speaking, teach you how to pause during a dialogue, and put in sounds. A psychologist will teach a stutterer to communicate in different life situations, help him express himself emotionally, creatively - in music, painting, playing on stage , ”says the specialist.

Press service of the Moscow Department of Labor and Social Protection

A child stutters: causes and remedies

Svetlana Ogorelkina

September 23, 2020 at 12:07 Health 1651 6 minutes

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Article

If your child's speech is slow, you may be experiencing stuttering. There are many reasons: from genetics to stress. What to do in a similar situation and how to help the baby - read in this article.

When a child begins to stutter, the mother does not know what to do, who to turn to, which was the impetus for the development of such a speech disorder. A competent specialist will be able to correct a speech defect. But before that, the child needs to go through fire, water, copper pipes and find out the cause of the problem.

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According to statistics, 4% of children stutter at an early age. In older children, such an ailment is extremely rare - only 2%. The sooner treatment is started, the more effective the correction will be. You can’t delay with this, otherwise speech impairment can become a habit that will be difficult to get rid of. And this will affect schooling and communication with peers.

What is stuttering

Stuttering is a speech disorder characterized by a disturbance of its normal rhythm. The kid repeats syllables, words, sounds and even phrases. Children who attend kindergartens are more susceptible to this. Boys stutter more often than girls. This is due to the fact that girls begin to crawl, walk, talk faster, they have a more stable psyche and fine motor skills are well developed.

Stuttering usually begins to manifest itself in children at the age of 2-3 years. They may have brain dysfunction.

Causes of stuttering in children

1. Difficult delivery. During a difficult birth, the baby is likely to receive a serious birth injury to the brain, which may affect its further development and speech.

2. Pathologies of pregnancy. The expectant mother could have suffered a serious infectious disease during pregnancy. Or she was diagnosed with fetoplacental insufficiency, due to which the child did not have enough oxygen, and he suffered from hypoxia.

3. Heredity . If someone close to you stutters, then the risk of stuttering in a child increases. 4. Temperament of the child . Choleric people are more likely to stutter than melancholic and sanguine people. They tend to have increased nervousness.

5. Prematurity and premature birth.

6. External unfavorable factor. If the baby began to stutter by the age of 4, then the cause of the violation is an external unfavorable factor that can be acquired in the process of the child's development.

7. Psychological trauma. If a child in childhood suffered the loss of a loved one, then he can not only stutter, but even stop talking. 8. Fright. For example, on the playground the kid saw a huge dog that started attacking him and barking. The child experiences psychological stress. Because of this, his speech may be impaired.

9. Psychological climate in the family. Divorce of parents, constant quarrels, scandals, physical punishment of children can also affect speech.

10. Past illnesses. For example, a child had been ill with meningitis, received a serious concussion, head bruise, proceeding with complications of SARS.

11. Make-believe stuttering. When one of the family members stutters, the baby is at risk, as it begins to imitate and copy the speech of an adult. At the same time, he has no problems with speech, he is healthy both psychologically and physically. Therefore, it is important even before the birth of the child to try to get rid of stuttering or limit communication with relatives who have such problems. 12. Retraining a left-hander to a right-hander. A child may experience stress on this basis, which will serve as an impetus for a speech disorder.

The following factors can also cause stuttering:

surgery to remove adenoids, ENT disease;
disorders in the endocrine system;
mental stress that does not correspond to the age of the child;
baby's accelerated speech rate;
lack of mother's attention.

Stuttering in a child: when to see a specialist

The kid repeats words, syllables, whole phrases in the process of dialogue with adults or children.

Lengthens letters when speaking.
Duplicates syllables in words, does not clearly reproduce speech, refuses to pronounce complex words.
The kid changes the intonation of speech or, on the contrary, refuses to communicate, is constantly silent.
The child has tension in the muscles of the face and neck during a conversation.
The child's speech has unnatural pauses between words.

How to deal with the problem

Contact a doctor. To begin with, a pediatrician who examines the child will give an appropriate conclusion and refer him to a specialist. If the reason is a violation of the brain, then parents need to see a neurologist. If neurological disorders are suspected, the specialist will prescribe an electroencephalogram, MRI, EchoEg, etc. Prescribe appropriate treatment. But speech defects will still be corrected by a speech pathologist. If the cause of stuttering lies in psychological factors, then you need to go to a psychologist.