Stuttering is a speech impediment which is a frustration for all of those people who are affected by it. It can be extremely frustrating for the parents of children who have a stutter. They try desperately to help their young sibling however often find it difficult to find suitable and beneficial therapy for stuttering. It is also, of course, very frustrating for the person who has the stutter. Being unable to speak fluently is often embarassing and can have a deeply negative affect on one's confidence.
There are various forms of stuttering therapy for children. The majority of parents would start by booking their child into see their local speech therapist, after all this form of treatment is normally free. I had a stuttering problem throughout my childhood and my experiences with traditional speech therapists were far from a positive one, in truth it only added to the frustration.
It was not because the speech therapists were not caring or trying their best to help me, it was more the fact that they did not fully comprehend want it was like to have this form of speech impediment. I was told, by more than one speech therapist, that there was no known cure for stuttering and that I needed to try to accept the fact that I had a stutter. This for me was a rather negative attitude and one that was quite defeatist, perhaps they could not be bothered to try to find a cure. I knew that I could, at times, as fluently as the next person. For example when I was on my own I did not have the slightest hint of a stammer or stutter.
After realising that speech therapists are unable to help their child to overcome their stutter, parents will often then look for some private specialised stuttering therapy. This is likely to prove to be of more benefit however to succeed at making the fluency techniques work and is hard work and practice. Their child needs to be aware of this, in the majority of cases the child in questions will be more than happy to work hard if it is likely to result in them overcoming their stutter.
Steve Hill is a speech coach from the UK ; he has a number of websites including:
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