Parents as Partners in Young Children's Stuttering Treatment


Re: article

From: Anne Bothe
Date: 10/23/00
Time: 8:06:05 AM
Remote Name: 128.192.22.206

Comments

Thanks, Sarah -- neat question, and a very common one, because of course we've all been in situations where someone is trying to teach us something and we've ended up very frustrated because all we seem to hear about is when we do it wrong! You get a test back with a whole lot of "minus" scores on it and no comment about the parts you did right, your golf coach is silent when your swing is pretty but pipes up with lots of critiques as soon as you do it wrong, your mother looks your entire wonderful new outfit up and down and all she can say is "That's too much eye makeup" -- or whatever. The answer is always to teach people things in a way that makes them feel good about what they are learning, instead of making them feel bad about what they have yet to learn. Learning is undoubtedly frustrating sometimes -- but figuring out that you CAN do it is such an empowering feeling, that's what teachers are supposed to lead learners to realize. And besides -- lots and lots and lots of praise for when the children are doing it right, lots of emphasis on the positive, and on the whole we have kids who love the experience. I can't say I've never seen even a moment of frustration in the children, of course I have, learning is hard work -- but that frustration is so much rarer than many people seem to be afraid of, and all you have to do when it does happen is spend the next few minutes just playing and praising their nonstuttered speech, the same as you might do when a child in language treatment or articulation treatment or any other learning situation gets frustrated with whatever learning task you've set for her.

Hope that answers your question --


Last changed: September 12, 2005