2022 Talk to PWS
Hi, I am a graduate student and have a question that I did not see asked above! (I could have missed it but I looked twice and did not see it) What is something (advice or therapy technique) that you wish you would have known as a child who stuttered? I have a client right now who is in the 1st grade and I want to make as much of an impact on him as I can before I leave this placement. Thank you !! – Sidney
Hi Sidney,
Thank you for your question.
As a child, I wish I had known that I wasn’t the only one who stuttered. I never knew anyone who stuttered, either a child or an adult, and I felt really alone, feeling I had to figure things out for myself.
When my daughter began stuttering, the main thing I wanted her to know was that she wasn’t the only one who stutters. I also made sure she met other children and adults who stutter so she could see that not everyone stutters the same and not everyone feels the same about their stutter. I also made sure she knew she didn’t have to figure things out by herself, she had me, her family, her teacher and her SLP, who would help her negotiate life with a stutter.
But I suppose the real message I wanted her to get was that she is amazing whether she stutters or not.
Hope some of that is useful to you and best of luck with your studies.
Veronica
What I would have wanted to hear from my clinician is that stuttering is not wrong, not shameful, that I can speak and have the right to do so, and that I’m good enough. Also to see who I am, and what I’m good at, simply finding the person behind the stutter. And for him/her to tell the people around me as well. My parents and family, teachers and classmates, etc, so that I was confident to face the world when I became an adult and had to face job situations, co-workers, social interactions etc. If there is a stabile basis, anything can be build upon that. Speech therapy, challenges, expending comfort zones, relationships, goals and dreams, etc. Do have a look at https://isad.live/declaration-of-the-right-to-stutter/
Keep them talking
Anita