The period of childhood is marked by the development of neuropsychomotor skills, such as walking and talking, for example. With regard to speech, more specifically, it is common for little ones to have difficulties pronouncing words for a period, but you need to know how to help children who stutter in case this problem persists. Throughout this article, you can learn about just that. Follow the reading and learn how to act with the little ones in these situations.
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The period of children's language development occurs mainly between the ages of 2 and 4. During this time, it is common for them to have a certain difficulty in the flow and fluency (dysfluency) in speech, but this problem usually disappears around 3 to 4 months.
When disfluency persists for a longer period of time, it is important to take steps to understand the causes of this difficulty and follow the appropriate measures so that the child can overcome the problem. Help should be sought from a professional in the area of speech therapy for proper follow-up.
As we mentioned, when realizing that the child is stuttering for longer than normal, it is very important to seek help from a speech therapist, but this should not be the only measure to be followed. We've listed below what you can do to help your daughter or son with this issue.
Speak more slowly, give it time, don't interrupt. It's also important that you speak at the same height as her, bringing her to eye level or bending down. This is important because she won't have to look up to communicate and therefore won't strain her neck.
It is essential that the school and teachers are aware of and oriented to deal in the best possible way with the child's stuttering in the classroom, especially in moments of tension, such as when reading or activity.
If the child is comfortable speaking in a fast and hurried manner, you can take this to the speech therapist. responsible for her follow-up, but don't pressure her to follow an easier or more relaxed way of to speak. This kind of freedom helps reduce stress in children who stutter.
Try to push away the frustrations and fears with stuttering to show your child how they can better deal with these feelings. So, if she can think “I do stutter, so what?”, it will be much easier to handle the problem and it will be overcome faster.
