Stuttering correction
Correction of stuttering occurs through the process of speech rehabilitation, during which the student is actively involved in the educational process.
There is no treatment in this process and cannot be, since stuttering is not a disease. The most correct solution is a comprehensive correction of stuttering, in which all problem areas are worked on with the student consistently and step by step. Unfortunately, in almost all cases, a person began to stutter at the age of 5-6, and at the time of contacting a specialist, he has many years of “experience” of this problem and all its manifestations: fears of speech, shortness of breath, speech blockages, word substitutions and etc. A stuttering person has firmly cemented all these incorrect (irrational) actions in his consciousness and subconscious. And then you can’t quickly remove all this “junk” from your head with the help of a few exercises. I think those who read these lines and stutter understand me perfectly. You have tried many times before to use various means on your own to overcome this problem, but time after time you returned to tricks and “crutches” in order to somehow say “difficult” words and at the same time hide the problem as much as possible from others. I went through all this in my life experience. And I talk about what is needed in order not to step on the same rake that I did. Only comprehensive psychotherapeutic work can help stutterers achieve normal speech. There is no need to learn to speak or breathe again. You already know how to do all this perfectly! And as proof - your speech alone with yourself. You already know how to speak perfectly! And the majority of people who stutter have normal speech with some people from their environment, although with others they cannot say even 2 words without hesitation and stupor. It's all mostly about how your body reacts to a certain stimulus when communicating with someone. And this irritant is always fueled by fear, which in turn is fueled by previous negative experiences of speech blockages. And here, any exercises done alone with oneself, without corrective work and prompt feedback, simply cannot be effective. After all, doing home exercises and speaking are two different things. If you want to learn to swim, you don’t need to learn to walk, you need to learn to swim in an appropriate aquatic environment. It's the same with speech. All analyzes should be aimed specifically at speech situations with someone.
What is stuttering
Logoneurosis is a complex, severe dysfunction of the speech apparatus; stuttering is provoked by spasms of the facial muscles. The smoothness of speech and its integrity are disrupted, repetitions of sounds appear and their lengthening. Speech is a fairly complex activity, and the development of the brain sector responsible for this function begins in the womb and continues to develop after birth.
When it appears
Various speech disorders appear between 2 and 5 years of age. At this time, active development and formation of phrasal speech occurs. Stuttering usually begins unexpectedly and gets worse over time.
A trap awaits many adults here: their experiences and excessive expressions of concern provoke an increase in speech pathology. This is how a child reacts to excessive attention to his speech defect. Logoneurosis is a form of systemic neurosis, it is complicated by logophobia, and this makes it difficult to eliminate stuttering.
How it manifests itself
On the playground, you often hear: “give me, give me, give me.” There is a short path from this phrase to “g-d-g-give me.” Experts in the field of neurology argue that repeating a word or sound more than two times is already a deviation from the normal development of the speech apparatus.
Statistics
Globally, 3% of children have stuttering of varying severity. Boys get sick 5 times more often than girls. Logoneurosis intensifies during significant periods for the child: going to kindergarten, school, during puberty. Stuttering affects adaptation in a team, healthy self-acceptance, and the ability to control oneself.
The pathology provokes duplication of some, most often vowels, sounds or short words, and an abrupt stop in speech. Speech is replete with parasites (“uh-uh, mm-mm, i-i-i”). While pronouncing them, you feel an internal struggle, a desire to say quickly and correctly. Many children stutter only when they are nervous, if they find themselves in an awkward situation or in a new team. In a familiar environment, their speech is clear and unhurried.
Stuttering correction techniques
Today, there are various techniques for correcting stuttering. I will not engage in PR here or describe various aspects of any specific trends. The topic is quite extensive and will take a lot of time. If you are interested in an answer regarding a specific approach, indicating the arguments and facts to the existing arguments - Welcome to Skype J
The main thing you need to understand is that normal speech is done without a technique! The people around you do not speak according to any method and do not adhere to certain “speech” rules when speaking. Correct speech correction work should be aimed at speech without a technique. On a mental level! At this level, we think, plan, count, analyze, dream, compose, remember, imagine, communicate... And incorrect attitudes in these areas lead to the appearance of very specific mental disorders. Stuttering can be partly attributed to a mental disorder resulting from regular fears of speech and stupors.
The technique should be consciously used only at an intermediate stage in the learning process. After completing the amount of work to correct speech according to the “BREAKTHROUGH” program, a person should not have any desire to “speak according to the method.” All training is aimed at this. The most valuable results are the speech made without any additional support, insurance or thought. Wanted - said. A word, a phrase, a sentence... More, more and more...! In any situation. Until the normal and stable consolidation of all this on an unconscious level.
Correction of stuttering in children
Correction of stuttering in children and adults has serious differences. An adult is more receptive to serious and comprehensive learning and conscious analysis of his mistakes. With a child, the specialist needs to be more flexible and loyal. It is easier for children to perceive information in a playful way. Our “BREAKTHROUGH” program has a children's version, which includes classes for children aged 9 years and older. From this age, the child is already able to interpret what he sees and construct sentences regarding the author’s ideas. In this case, the child’s motives for learning (internal and external) are taken into account.
Speech therapy correction of stuttering is now widespread. When performed by an ordinary speech therapist or speech pathologist-speech pathologist, this correction is in most cases ineffective. And in some cases, it only further aggravates the condition of a stuttering child. In universities, speech therapists are not taught effective techniques for permanently getting rid of stuttering. Especially if we are talking about children over 9 years old, when a lot of talking is required and the child begins to regularly experience multiple speech blockages and experience fear and an increasing feeling of powerlessness about this. I went through all this from my own experience, when no one could help me solve my problem. And basic work with speech therapy only aggravated the situation, since at the same time I was taught to meddle more in controlling the work of the speech apparatus. But this could not be done, since a normal child practically does not interfere in this area... As a result, after multiple sessions with speech therapists and speech therapists - defectologists, my speech only worsened. In principle, the same story happened with other children who stutter, which I learned about from adults who stutter... Appeals to various children's centers for the correction of stuttering gave them practically no tangible results. And sometimes there was some relief in speech, but soon either everything became the same as before, or worse. Many stories of adults who stutter tell us about this. In the course of various experiments, with the participation of speech pathologists and speech pathologists, we developed a children's program to overcome stuttering. It is easiest to get rid of this at an early age.
Incompetent psychologists suggest looking for the causes of stuttering
Although the most important link in its development and consolidation is not the cause, but the consequence - logophobia, which later becomes the main factor in the maintenance and aggravation of logoneurosis. Therefore, in the process of psychological therapy for stuttering, it makes no sense to look for its cause in the past, as we already wrote in the article about the influence of family on the appearance of stuttering. Regardless of the length of stuttering experience, in the future it does not matter what initiated the stuttering - fright, conflict in the family, or other stress. Let us repeat, it is necessary to neutralize logophobia as its consequence. Without this, stuttering treatment cannot be successful.
Moreover, there are often cases when psychological work aimed at recognizing and remembering the stimulus that led to stuttering led to an even greater concentration on negative emotions and worsening stuttering, especially if such psychotherapy is carried out by an incompetent specialist. However, there are exceptions here, and such therapy can also be useful, but this is observed very rarely.
We cannot describe all the situations that happened to our subscribers, because there are too many of them. This article provides generalized conclusions drawn from an analysis of most situations.
Special mention should be made of hypnosis as another area of practical psychotherapy aimed at getting rid of logophobia; read about this in the article about hypnosis for stuttering.
Program, exercises and classes for stuttering correction
A program for stuttering correction should be built individually, taking into account the digestibility of the material at a practical level. That is, during the learning process, we look at and evaluate the student’s proper consolidation of various decisions. We analyze the experience we have learned and further build interaction, taking into account the remaining volume of errors. At the same time, all kinds of exercises serve only as a small addition to the main rehabilitation process. And it cannot be any other way. This is not a gym where you can read the instructions yourself and use a number of exercises (for the body) from the very beginning to achieve your goals. And here the problem initially lies not in the body, but in the head, in the wrong habit of reacting with the body to certain situations. And all this needs to be sorted out, carefully (!) monitoring from the outside the process of the body’s assimilation of new reactions in so-called “stressful” situations (although in fact, most situations for all other people are absolutely normal and not stressful). At the same time, you need to monitor what changes begin to occur in your head, at the level of thoughts and attitude towards your own speech. In general, not everything is so simple, and with simple exercises you can only make it worse, getting even more entangled in attempts to excessively control the speech apparatus. Classes to correct stuttering should be aimed at normalizing speech and thinking. This is exactly the case when all problems come from the head. And they are projected on the body. There is a clear and unambiguous cause-and-effect relationship in this. We need to work comprehensively. With speech therapy, psychology and psychosomatics, attention errors and more.
Parents' actions
The first and most important thing that a parent should remember is that anxiety and focusing on the speech problem will only aggravate the course of the disease and perpetuate it. The child is depressed by your dissatisfaction and his difference from his peers. The task of adults is to explain to the child that you are interested in the semantic content of his speech, and not in the way he reproduces it. You can’t shout, scold or make fun of a stuttering child, you can’t urge him on (“well, come on / tell me faster / why are you stalling?”).
Your task is to save your child from the ridicule of other children, from the comments of the kindergarten teacher or teachers at school. Nowadays, bullying often occurs in children's groups: any difference from others can provoke attacks and only aggravate the problem. This moment is very important and requires quick decisions.
Parents should not let this happen. If you can’t save your child from bullying and ridicule, change the team: leave kindergarten or school without delay. Ridicule and bullying provoke strengthening of nervous disorder. The child will withdraw and develop shyness for the rest of his life.
Teenagers going through the stage of speech correction also need consultations with a psychologist if their relationship with their parents is tense and lacks trust. Teenagers need help to find their strengths, to maintain self-esteem, to determine their place in the team. During puberty, the social and personal development of a person is especially important.
Rules for parents
A number of simple rules for parents and relatives of a child suffering from stuttering:
- stuttering should not be the reason for a child’s release from household chores, punishment or concessions,
- hug and praise your child more often,
- minimize comments, but without compromising discipline, they should be aimed at the child’s actions, and not at his personal qualities,
- The TV should not be on in the background all day long,
- Minimize time spent in front of computer and TV screens, especially two hours before bedtime,
- keep a strict daily routine, avoid overexcitation,
- there should be a favorable atmosphere in the house, without conflicts and shouting,
- observe the culture of speech, do not use obscenities,
- control your speech, let it be smooth and calm, pronounce words clearly and pause between them,
- break complex semantic sentences into simple and short ones,
- listen patiently to the child, let him finish his thought, do not force him to repeat what he said,
- help correct mistakes after the child has spoken,
- Learn short rhythmic poems and songs together.
Speech therapists know cases where a child recovered from stuttering on his own, and this was due to a number of reasons: the positive attitude of the whole family, the absence of shame for the defect, meek words were spoken without hesitation, and most importantly, the child did not withdraw into himself and continued to communicate.
