Creating a supportive environment
Hi Everyone! My name is Isaiah, and I am a second-year Post-Baccalaureate student studying to be an SLP. I wanted to ask what is something your family and/or friends have done to create a supportive environment for you to speak with a stutter?
My family and friends have been patient with me, allowing me to finish my sentences, not interrupting, and not guessing words. Occasionally, as a child, my parents and family friends would say something to someone that wasn’t very nice, which made me feel supported.
Thank you for this interesting question, Isaiah!
My friends have all been very supportive – they have been patient; they comment with regard to what I say – my content – rather than how I say it. They don’t bring up my stuttering in conversation – they accept me exactly as I am. My stuttering, though severe, is a total non-issue to them.
When growing up, and in later years, my family has always been supportive. When I was in fluency programs, learning and practicing techniques, my mother frequently helped me practice my techniques. She had conversations with me that were specifically for the purpose of speech practice. During those periods, she let speak most of the time. My mother was very fluent, but during those conversations, she spoke very slowly, softly, and gently, to encourage me to do the same – and that really helped!
My mother was an extraordinarily sweet woman, and her lovely spirit made me relax totally when around her.
My father had his own ways of helping. He was an attorney, and had a local reputation as a tough-minded lawyer with an assertive personality, who got things done for his clients. If any teacher seemed to bother me, they heard from my father. In speech therapy programs, if health insurance companies refused to provide coverage when it appeared that they should, those companies heard from my father – who sometimes threatened a lawsuit to make health insurance companies pay up. And he succeeded. He had his way of getting what he wanted – no one was allowed to be unfair to his children!
My paternal grandfather was well-to-do, and he helped finance some of my speech therapy programs, when it was clear that health insurance coverage wasn’t possible.
I have known people who stutter who have had problems with their family and/or friends, but luckily that wasn’t the case with me.
Good luck in your future career!
– Paul