Child stuttering. The repetition of syllables when speaking
The stuttering of children is noticed when the child speaks with an interruption in the rhythm or fluency of speech. These alterations in speech, with a frequency greater than what is considered normal in relation to the age and development of the child, are typical of stuttering in children and may
The stuttering of children is noticed when the child speaks with an interruption in the rhythm or fluency of speech. These alterations in speech, with a frequency greater than what is considered normal in relation to the age and development of the child, are typical of stuttering in children and may be: repetitions of sounds, syllables or words, unusually long sounds, frequent interjections (ehh, umh, etc.), monosyllabic repetitions, substitution of problematic words, pauses within a word, pauses or blocks in the speech and words with an excess of physical tension.
Ana Carballal, psychologist and specialist in Early Care, explains in this interview with GuiaInfantil.com, what are the treatments and the role that parents play in correcting stuttering in children.
Infant stuttering, a child's speech disturbance
What is stuttering in children?It is a disorder of verbal fluency. A stuttering child is the one who repeats the syllables in words a lot and has blockages. In addition, they are children who are tense when talking and have very significant behaviors, they can be anxious about communication, many have tics and when they speak they use many phrases, use synonyms or make incomplete sentences.
What are the causes of stuttering in children?More than causes, we can talk about factors that may be related to stuttering. One of them is inheritance, since there may be a genetic or family component, that is, if there is someone in the family with stuttering, it is more possible for the child to develop this alteration. Stuttering is also related to an emotional problem of children that predisposes them as problems of self-esteem or living under too rigid educational guidelines. These conditions can develop in them an anxiety at the time of communication, which leads to stuttering.
At what age does stuttering of children usually appear?May appear at the beginning of childhood or at different times of growth and may continue during adulthood. There is no specific time for the appearance of stuttering, it is variable in every child or adult. When it appears around three years, for example, in most cases it usually disappears before age 7. We speak of stuttering, always depending on the case and the child, from 6 years of age.
What advice should parents of children with stuttering take into account?In the case of stuttering, parents should pay attention to what the speech therapist or the hearing and language teacher says for each case, because each child has their needs and their way of growing and developing. Parents must avoid negative attitudes, both those of the child and those of others. In the child, we should try to avoid that feeling of low self-esteem, which often causes stuttering. We also have to avoid overprotection because if we overprotect him we are not giving him the opportunity to speak and we reduce the possibilities of being autonomous.
What is the treatment of professional stuttering?The treatment of stuttering will depend on each case because each child is different, they develop in different ways, they live in different environments, the support of the parents is also different, and for that reason the treatment must be specific. In general, all treatments will be oriented to train verbal fluency, to work on the anxiety behaviors that are affecting them, to encourage the child to speak spontaneously and for all of these behaviors to be generalized in all environments in which this.
What techniques are used in the treatment of stuttering in children?Among the usual techniques we can talk about immediate imitation, which is that children reproduce a model just when this model is acting. feed back corrective is another technique that aims to return the children a model of appropriate language, according to what they are counting, that is, they say a word incorrectly and we do not say this is not said, but simply we return the word he said in the right way. Relaxation and training in social skills such as assertiveness is also very important because this is what will allow the child to know how to handle situations of tension, which are situations in which he has to talk.
Marisol Nuevo.
