Do you have cases of preschool stuttering on your caseload? Next to social skills, fluency is my favorite SLP area! I have both personal and professional experiences to draw upon as my father was a stutterer and one of my now adult daughters had a long period of disfluencies (8 months-felt like years) during her preschool years. These experiences were helpful during my many years of working in the area of preschool stuttering and counseling worried parents. As SLPs, we are spread thin and often have to prioritize! Once you have evaluated the child’s speech, be sure to prioritize parent education!
It will have most impact on the fluency of your student!
Parent education-right away-don’t delay!
Parents of young children that are stuttering are typically very worried and your words and advice will be gold to them! Even if you are a new and inexperienced SLP, you have much to offer to parents!! Most parents want to DO something to help their child and you can provide them with this straight up. Remember, many young stutterers can significantly reduce disfluencies with environmental modifications at home.
My fluency packet (pictured below) for preschool stuttering includes a pdf on parent education, as well as visuals and activities for facilitating fluency with younger children.
Teach to the learning styles of parents!
I like to provide parents of preschoolers that are stuttering with information that fits their learning styles. I have a variety of parent education formats ready to go for parents, including links, videos, podcasts, written, hands-on materials, and an individual question and answer session. Many parents like to have resources to share with caregivers and other relatives too so don’t let them leave your office empty-handed.
If a parent of your student also stutters, don’t assume they already know how to facilitate their child’s fluency. Their role has been to be that chid’s parent and they may need support and guidance in facilitating their child’s fluency.
Model fluency facilitors for preschool stuttering
Model some of the strategies for parents with the student, if possible. Label the strategy so they know what you are teaching them! Watching you perform fluency strategies with their preschool child that is stuttering is time well-spent in your speech therapy session.
What Parent Eduction Do I Cover? My Top Eight!
There can be LOTS to cover with parents related to preschool stuttering. I’m always concerned that I will omit valuable information so here are my top eight things to cover during a parent education session.
- Reduce display speech. Display speech is when adults tell a child to recite something in front of other people. For example, “tell Grandma what you learned at school today” or “spell your name for your dad.” If the child wants to do these things on their own, that’s wonderful, but telling them to talk in front of others put additiional speaking pressure on the child. Stress and anxiety can increase a child’s stuttering, (but they are not the cause of stuttering).
- Slow down the pace for the child at home. Pareents should use slow and relaxed speech when talking to the child and act as if they have all the time in the world to listen to the child. Encourage parents to examine the child’s schedule. Overscheduled children can be stressed children and the goal is to reduce stress for the child.
- Reduce questions. If the child is more disfluent when answering questions, a task that requires a number of language skills, parents should reduce the number of questions they ask the child. When my daughter was stuttering, I had to bite my tongue when she returned from a playdate to keep myself from asking, “what did you do at Sarah’s house?” I learned to replace it with a comment, “you and Sarah seem to always have fun together.”
- Undivided attention time! Encourage parents to try to spend at least a few minutes each day playing and interacting with the child, giving them undivided attention and following the child’s lead during play.
- Make turn-taking a house rule. Encourage parents to establish conversational turn-taking rules in the home and make it a priority. Competition to speak places added communicative stress on the child.
- When the child stutters, don’t tell them to slow down and don’t finish their sentence for them. It can feel demeaning to the child and if you say the wrong thing, you are just making the situation worse. Instead, let the child finish their sentence and focus on the content of what they said, not the fluency. Spend time talking with parents about how to react (and now to react) when their child stutters.
- Active listening. Spend time discussing with parents how body language, tone of voice and eye contact are all part of being an active listener. If they don’t understand something the child says due to stuttering, it is better to attempt to clarify than to pretend they understood. Show parents photos of parents being active listeners and point out their body language. Active listening is an important part of reducing preschool stuttering.
- The whole child! Remind overanxious parents that their child is more than their speech. Encourage them to celebrate the child’s accomplishments and build their confidence just as they would for a non-stuttering child.
Top Parent Ed Resources Preschool Stuttering:
While there are a number of stuttering websites across the world, I find that the U.S. based “Stuttering Foundation” has the best resources for parent education.
I have linked my favorites parent education resources below:
Stuttering Foundation Podcast: supporting and partnering with parents of children who stutter
Stuttering Foundation Video: Seven tips on talking with the child who stutters
Stuttering Foundation: free e-books
Parent’s thoughts: Friends-the national association of young people who stutter
If you work with young children, you might also like this blog post on working on social communication skills in pretend play centers!
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