Families who have never met a person who stutters before may initially care about it when their children start to stutter, but then they may start to panic and feel intense anxiety about it.
In this case, the reactions, approaches and attitudes of families towards their children are of critical importance in how this process will progress. Stuttering is a speech disorder that has been researched and talked about for a long time. For this reason, there is a lot of information pollution around. Knowing this, families need to make an effort to obtain accurate information and should not rely on information they obtain from non-experts and sources.
So what can families do when their children start stuttering?
# Listening to the child calmly by directing our attention to him while he is talking,
# Make the conversation fun. Do not force the child to speak or correct his speech when he has difficulty or stutters.
# For example, when you eat together, you can also have conversations as a family. During these times, chat without distractions such as television around you. Have fun. Listen. Take care. Take turns and talk.
#Do not be unnecessarily critical and corrective towards your child. Avoid phrases that may have this meaning, such as "calm down", "don't stutter, speak properly", "speak slowly", "don't rush", "pay attention", "take deep breaths". Even if these types of statements are made with good intentions and to help the child, they may worry your child and cause unnecessary stress.^
# When your child gets stuck, maintain eye contact with him/her, do not wear a sad or worried expression, try to interrupt his/her words and complete and correct them. Wait for him to finish speaking calmly.
# Focus on what your child says, not how he says it.
# Let your child speak for himself, even if he stutters, do not speak for your child. Give him the opportunity to express his thoughts.
# Wait a short moment before answering your child's questions; This way, you will make him feel that he has time to think when you ask him questions. Eliminate time pressure as much as possible. Time pressure can increase stuttering.
# Simple at home Try to create a calm environment. Slow down your pace of life as a family.
# When talking to your child or talking to others around him, be careful to speak slower and more clearly.
# Try to create a natural and fun conversation environment when talking to your child. Being in a questioning, challenging, knowledge-testing conversation environment can create anxiety and stress for all of us.
# We know how valuable your child is to you. Feeling this while communicating with you will increase his self-confidence, reinforce his desire to speak and make him a better communicator. Communicating and being understood is important for every child.
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