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From: Dick Mallard
Date: 21 Oct 2009
Time: 07:25:04 -0500
Remote Name: 70.115.247.181
Michelle, if your son continues to stutter he will face situations like this. This is why he (and perhaps you and your husband) need to learn coping strategies to deal with issues like this. I am 67 years old and people still comment about my stuttering or about stuttering in general. I have to "get over it." Let me also add that I was teased terribly in high school. Learning to cope with the teasing and not let those who teased see that their behavior bothered me laid a gret foundation for being able to deal with the environment when I did get help at 22. We will have our 50 year reunion this year and I plan to do as I did at each reunion--talk to each one of those people and be absolutely in control, in this case fluent! The confidence gained by being able to handle a situation and not letting others determine how I will respond gives a child huge confidence. So, bottom line is in the future when (not if) your child experiences a situation that could be interpreted as negative, use that as a teaching moment that he can benefit from. He cannot learn to handle adversity unless he experiences it. Good luck. It is not easy being the parent of a child who stutters. That is why I insist that parents are the key personnel in stuttering therapy for children. You might want to check out my web site on learning to use problem solving (www.familystutteringprogram.com). My best to you, your husband, and your son.