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From: Jerry Johnson
Date: 10/29/02
Time: 10:23:11 AM
Remote Name: 134.29.30.25
Hi Gunars: have you had your meltdown yet about stuttering? As a grandparent of a three year old boy who has these associated behaviors trying to talk: stomping on foot, jumping, pounding fist, signs of avoidance, pitch rise, sometimes cannot complete sentence or word, pitch & volumn rise-I have been there and done that meltdown. There is more to this story, but here are some of the suggestions I offered to these wonderful parents: back off teaching, one thought one short sentence, one thing at a time, model soft, easy speech and practice this, concrete expectations and keep choices to a minimum, interrupt associated behaviors if possible but be careful about doing this, restate his spoken statement with soft, easy speech and keep it short, pay attention when his is talking, try to ask yes/no questions when possible, so self-talk around him with soft, easy speech and short phrases, have fun with speech and even use "babble talk" about some activities, explain to his 7 year old brother what is happening if he asks and say something like "your brother is just learning how to talk like you and sometimes he gets stuck but he will get over it. Be patient and don't try to help because that is a mommy/daddy job. Continue your excelllent parenting skills. You are two great parents. Be patient with yourselves too. Keep it up, be consistent and dedicated to the task at hand. It is not your fault. If we knew why kids develop these associated behaviors we would have the puzzle of childhood stuttering solved. There you are Gunars. Pick and choose. You can send to me that gold coin you are tossing around.