Question for Professionals
Hello! My name is Gretchen, I am a speech-language pathology student in Texas. I currently work in the public school setting as an Assistant-SLP. How do you feel is the best way to address stuttering with children within the public school system? Everything I have learned so far points to working with PWS to help them feel confident when speaking and to convey the importance of expressing their thoughts/speaking through moments of stuttering. How would you approach this in a way that would be supported in the school setting? Thank you for reading my question, I look forward to reading your response(s)!
I should add, I work with ECSE-kindergarten.
Hi Gretchen!
As a child enters a school setting, the sphere that encompasses the environment around them expands. Now it includes teachers, classmates, seniors and juniors, and other supporting staff in the school. In a nutshell, I’d recommend focusing on two aspects. First, all the people in the child’s environment. So running short workshops for teachers to help them identify a child who stutters and interact with this child the right way… educational talks for support staff, and of course, classes to promote inclusion and acceptance among fellow students through fun stories and activities. Second, of course, is to reduce the child’s speech related struggle and to work on their ability to toughen up in the face of adverse communicative situations. Because although all the people in the child’s environment have the potential to be facilitators, some of them might (consciously or unconsciously) prove to be barriers as well. The ultimate goal we seek through all of our actions is to facilitate the child’s well-being, growth and self-confidence, with or without stuttering.
All the best!
Pallavi