Being Proactive

In the past several years, speech pathologists have decided to leave the "wait and see" era of fluency treatment behind us.  With this change in perspective we have begun to usher in a more proactive approach, complete with suggestions on how to alter the child's environment to enhance fluency, encouragement to track changes, and most importantly the acknowledgment and acceptance of stuttering.  Unlike past generations, you'll be hard pressed to find a fluency specialist who tells parents to "ignore" the child's stuttering as we no longer prescribe to the idea that speaking about stuttering around a child will cause them to stutter.  

Thank goodness parents no longer are being told to sit by and watch their child struggle for 6-12 months without providing them ways to help!  The Stuttering Foundation of America recently produced a video that discusses the things parents can do to assist their child who stutters and this video is posted above.  As you watch, do not beat yourself up if you have been handling things differently than the therapists suggest.  There are a number of different variables that are thought to interact in order to cause the onset of stuttering.  By not initially following these suggestions you did not cause your child to stutter, however these environmental changes will help reduce time pressure and language demands so that your child can speak more freely!  

For more information Fluency, please visit our sister site:  www.thestutteringsource.com