[ Contents | Search | Post | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Walt Manning
Date: 22 Oct 2008
Time: 17:28:23 -0500
Remote Name: 141.225.97.59
Hello Jordan, Well, I’m not sure how to answer you except to say that to the extent that the child can have fun producing all types of sounds including bumpy and smooth speech he or she is likely to appreciate how nice it can be to produce speech easily and with relatively little effort. I think that is what we are doing in therapy for young kids who stutter - empowering them to use their “speech helpers” to produce speech that is fun and easy. And maybe to some degree reinterpret themselves and what they are capable of doing. Depending on the child’s family history of stuttering that may me more of less difficult to do. If the child has not suffered a lot from their stuttering – which is usually the case until they experience the socialization process associated with going to school, it is usually a lot easier to help them along with their fluency. I don’t feel that I have really answered your question but, to some degree at least, I think that what you are asking (how to get a child to see his fluency as a gift) depends on the temperament of the child and the involvement of his parents in treatment. My experience was more one of appreciating my stuttering as a gift and, as you say, enjoying and not taking for granted the fluency that I had been without for many years.