Advice for the Kids
Hi my name is Brandon and I am a SLP graduate student. My questions is what advice can you give to kids who stutter thats having a hard time in society?
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Advice for the Kids — 1 Comment
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Hi Brandon
What a great question! I myself had a very hard time as a kid who stuttered. I was told stuttering was wrong, and life would be meaningless as I was a failure, I was bullied, until I tried to give up. Things changed when I met the right people. A boss who told me I was doing a good job. A boyfriend who told me I was a great person. At the age of 27… I found a broschure about the stuttering support group. Wait, what?? Are there others?? From that moment on I never stopped talking and found my self worth. And I started camps for children and for young people who stutter, for them to found out they are not alone and give peer support.
I know parents don’t want their children to suffer. But sometimes sending kids to all kinds of therapy, instead of sending them to a camp where they can be themselves, no matter how they speak, can make all the difference. Helping the child to get a surrounding where stuttering is OK. Where there is therapy, but by the right SLPs who don’t just focus on fluency, and ONLY if the child wants to. Helping the child means also to talk to teachers as many don’t know how to deal with a CWS. But maybe most important of all is to make the child feel s/he is good enough, just the way s/he is. To show all the skills s/he has, the great personality. And that stuttering doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. It’s just a bit harder. And that many people have issues they’d rather be without. Stuttering it not good, not bad, it just is. But that you’re not less of a person. That you should get the respect you deserve, the help and adjustments you have the right to. To explain what stuttering is, so that the child can explain it to others. Through books like Franky Banky, buttons to show that stuttering is cool (any new fashion or music style started with one person brave (!) enough to be different), and that s/he has a day all for themselves, the ISAD, where they deserve that special cake, or cinema visit. 😉 So in short: give the child the tools to see s/he is OK and that the world simply needs to be better listeners. Sending the kid to a camp is a great start, also for parents to meet other parents and adult PWS.
Keep them talking
Anita