Stuttering Therapy: Activity for the Busy Family!
Busy families are like busy, lively ant hills, bustling with industry and activity. Moms and Dads work. There is a lot of coming and going. Kids have outside activities such as sports and scouting. Life is hectic and fast-paced.
In busy families, communication is compressed and task-oriented. Siblings can compete for parental attention and talk time. Fast-paced conversation, interruptions, rapid-fire questions, and full schedules can put pressure on the child who stutters.
Pressure and stress aren’t necessarily bad; after all, you want to teach your children to cope with reality. But for the child who stutters it can help to raise awareness of the communication styles in your home, and reduce the pressure where possible; e.g. take water out of the stuttering bucket.
Over to You
One fun family activity to support a child who stutters is to reduce pressure in a fun way, where everyone participates. Try setting a timer on your phone for five minutes and practicing just one of these rules while having dinner, or playing a game.
Listen without interrupting or having side conversations.
Pause after speaking, to give think time.
Slow rate of speech (but not too slow).
Listen with appreciation and respect.
Talk about it afterward. Which one was hard? Which one was easy?
What can you do to reduce some of the pressure in your home?
