Support Group for stutters in Singapore

[manukahoney]

Hi all,


I’m new here. I am a parent of a primary school child. Recently I discovered that my child stutters quite badly after the June holidays. I am reading up to find out how to manage and treat this problem. Meanwhile I hope that parents who had gone through this with their children might care to share. Thank you.

[jasonleong]

If the stutter is severe or seems not to improve, you can bring your child to a polyclinic and ask for a referral to SGH or KK speech therapist. Be prepared to go through an ENT or psych doc first.


To help the child, -assuming he/she is fairly young:
1) don’t draw (too much) attention to the stutter
2) do not make fun or if anyone makes fun of him -take the necessary actions. e.g. Friends or not -they have to be told off.
3) encourage to child to slow down or repeat the phrase in a good and friendly manner. For eg. say, that was a bumpy sentence. Let’s say it again together. After saying out together, let the child say it naturally and without any tension
4) Take note of tension and especially hard use of articulators -the child will not be aware & it is unhelpful to be too technical towards him at this stage.

The key thing is not to make him/her self-conscious. That would lead to an almost impossible-to-break vicious cycle of stuttering.

Hope these help.

PS. make sure other family members to do not tease or draw attention to stutter.

[JohnYeo]

manukahoney:

Hi all,


I'm new here. I am a parent of a primary school child. Recently I discovered that my child stutters quite badly after the June holidays. I am reading up to find out how to manage and treat this problem. Meanwhile I hope that parents who had gone through this with their children might care to share. Thank you.

Hi manukahoney,

Just to share, I grew up stuttering since I was in sec 1. Well, it does affect one's self-esteem but at the same time, it is very important to focus on the child's strength.

One common mistake is to help a child, who stutters, complete his sentence. Be really patient with him and give him all your 100% attention.

Plus, if you know that your child is stutters the most when ask to speak in front of a class. Do not put him in that kind of situation most of the times. It can start off from smaller groups to bigger groups and what matter most, it is important to build his confidence.

I agree that the child should not be conscious about it. Sometimes, it is just a passing phase. Focus on his strengths and build on it.

If you need any material, do let me know. I have tons of it including online resources when I was trying to cure myself...well, i realise there is no cure....what matter most is to focus on our strength and passion .... it is just a different perception of life....

Hope this helps...
John