Question For A PWS
Hello, I am a SLP student currently and I have noticed a few non-stutterers try to provide assistance with words or finish sentences if a PWS is stuttering. Is this helpful or disrespectful? And how does a PWS prefer to be addressed or spoken to by a non-stutterer? Thank you for any responses, Braelynn.
The general rule would be not to finish the words or sentences of a person who stutters. But my personal advice is always to ask the person in front of you.
Personally, I don’t get annoyed if a person tries to finish my words, because I understand that they are trying to help me. If that happens, I try to explain that it is better to give me more time.
Hi Braelynn,
I would agree with Andrea – it is a general rule that you don’t finish the words or sentences on a person who stutters. But I think its always important to ask the person you are speaking to; they then get to choose how they would like to be treated.
I personally don’t mind if a stranger finishes my sentence but I would make my family and friends aware that I don’t like it when they do it.
I hope that helps 🙂
I believe the very large majority of people who stutter, including myself, really dislike it when someone tries to finish our sentences for us. This is really disrespectful behavior, although I understand that some who don’t stutter may think it is helpful. Please don’t do that with people who stutter.
(And sometimes, a person will guess wrong about the word intentions of a PWS.)
It’s my policy that when someone finishes my sentence for me, I still finish it myself – regardless of whether a person guessed right or wrong as to what I was intending to say. If this is done a number of times, the interrupting person will get the message.
Indeed in these circumstances, I stubbornly finish the sentence, even if a conversation has moved on to other things.
There shouldn’t be any difference between how a person who stutters is addressed or spoken to, and how a fluent person should be addressed or spoken to.
Especially – don’t slow down or simplify language, or speak louder or more deliberately, with a person who stutters. Stuttering doesn’t affect mental capacities or hearing or language understanding.