Family Support, The Best Relief For Stuttering

Stuttering is a condition in the normal fluency of speech, it is a fairly common picture in the child population between two and five years of age, predominantly in males. With proper intervention, children can overcome this condition in its first stage, but many times it is a problem that can accompany people throughout their lives.

The main consequences of stuttering are related to interference in social communication, which affects the academic and work development of those who suffer from it. In this sense, this problem can lead to negative situations for the child, for example teasing by other children, which can affect them emotionally and psychologically.

However, it is not something that family love cannot help with; According to the experts, it is essential that from the family we help the little ones to overcome and / or live with stuttering. This process can trigger a series of contradictory feelings in the child, in fact, it is believed that the development of this picture is linked to psychogenic aspects.

Origin of stuttering

According to the research of the American Psychiatric Association, stuttering has a multifactorial origin; so it is related to different aspects of child development. Some behavioral theories also associate the appearance of this problem with learned behavior, which remains active over time because the child will become anxious by wanting to avoid it at all times.

Among the main causes that explain the origin of stuttering, we have:

• Constitutional or physiogenic causes. They are those associated with the physical condition of the child, for example, the presence of some impairment in the organs that intervene in the development of speech

• Psychogenic causes. These also include those of a neurotic type, because they occur due to some psychological condition and therefore at the brain level. This is related to the behavior and problems derived from this
• Causes of learning. It is associated with the development of the mother tongue, especially as a product of repetition, it can be a behavioral cause due to demand for attention or lack of interest or as a product of incomplete acquisition of the language. Sometimes stuttering is a characteristic of the father or mother, so the child repeats it in the same way.

How does the family help to improve stuttering?

This is a problem that is not easy to overcome, because the child will be stressed all the time he has to speak and in his interest to avoid stuttering he becomes more anxious. That is why you may have problems expressing yourself in public, reading aloud or having conversations with other people, for which you will need unconditional family support.

The main thing in these cases is to reinforce their self-esteem and self-confidence, none of this is totally possible if the family is not determined to do it. Another contribution in which the family is essential refers to submitting the child to an early diagnosis in order to apply the necessary therapies, applications that may vary depending on the characteristics of the condition.

In the case of transient or developmental stuttering, family support is a large part of the task to achieve success. This type of stuttering is one that occurs approximately after three years and tends to disappear in the next few years; to help you in this stage it is recommended to follow the following guidelines:

• Recognize that the child presents this difficulty and it is in our hands to help him
• Act naturally when faced with stuttering episodes, while still paying attention and interest
• Promote communication with the child, establish simple conversations without cornering them with too many questions
• Wait for him when he is speaking, without rushing him or answering for him
• Avoid teasing or harsh corrections
• Lead by example through correct repetition, but without pointing out that it is a correction
• Promote the knowledge of the language through reading, specifically, we can read them stories or tell stories that arouse their interest and allow discovery
• In more severe cases of stuttering, it is essential that the child undergo specialized therapies.