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[Guest]

He only broke up at 2pm yesterday but beign with James is driving me up the wall! The stammering is at its absolute worst - the poor little mite can barely get 2 words out straight and its just so draining listening and waiting. He hates it if you finish the word (which is often just "Mummy" as he starts by getting my attention). He gets frustrated if you guess what he is trying to say and in general he must feel even worse about it than I do.

 

He has been having a block of speech therapy but it doesn't seem to have helped at all - we have the last session tomorrow.

 

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas at all?

[Christian]

By no means an expert, but has he tried 'singing' the words he wants to speak? Often that helps and might give him more confidence?

[Looney]

Aaw poor lad, it must be so frustrating for him. And I expect the more frustrated he gets the worse the stammering becomes? Can he take a deep breath and then continue? Or can he learn to 'swallow' the stammer, in other words pause, swallow, and then continue?

 

There must be books out that will offer some support and some help to parents too? Maybe you could check the library?

 

xx

 

 

(edited for typos)

[iar fach goch]

My friend's little boy had a serious stammer and it was hard work having a conversation with him at times, but the worst thing she could do was interrupt or second guess what he was going to say. I know it's easier said than done, but being patient was the only way she found to cope, if she became impatient with him, he would get frustrated and the stammer would get worse. How old is James? My friend's boy gradually stopped from 6 1/2 onwards, and by now (nearly 8 ) stammers very infequently, only when he is really excited about something and got a lot to say. He did the speech therapy sessions too, and this appeared to make no difference at the time; the therapist did say he would probably grow out of it and she seems to have been right. Good luck.

[craftyhunnypie]

Ah poor little love. I have a lot of sympathy for children & adults with stammers. As a child, there was a boy who lived next door but one to me, with a very bad stammer. He got so picked on by other cruel children & got called ' budgie'. I felt so sorry for him, as he was my friend who I played with & all the name calling & bullying of him used to make me cry. His mum abandoned the speech therapy & he stammered all through school & college.

He could sing normally though ( a wise thought Christian). He was an extreme genius at mathematics too!

Some relaxation therapy & breathing therapy would benefit him more I think.

Best of luck Pengy.

 

Emma.x

[Guest]

He does sing properly but he can't sing instead of talk, nor is he allowed to "swallow" words. Currently we are trying tortoise talking as our strategy but it doesn't seem to help. Its a stressful time the changes happening at school always set him off.

 

He's been stammering for 2 years now - started after his first year at school - the change of classes set him off. Last year he didn't change but his best friend did. This year he is changing and to try and nip this a bit they have done special transition sessions with him. But they don't seem to have helped.

 

Prior to the stammer he didn't talk at all until he was gone 3, then he struggled with the pronunciation of lots of letters - he finally has them straight.

 

Today he has been trying to push the words out by making all sorts of strange shapes with his mouth - no idea why he's suddenly doing that.

 

Its just double hard work being with him - tomorrow he is in kids club for the day - I need a day off already!

[Lewis]

Someone in my form at school used to stammer and stutter, but this was early on and had speech therapy sessions which seem to have helped.

He can't do big group conversations and just keeps quiet but it fin when talking on his own.

 

The singing thing is a good idea, my frind is at uni training to become a language and speech therapist (I forget the long name)

 

I hope it gets better with age and that September isn't too stressful for him, it must be hard.

[chickencam]

It might be worth googling the therapy that helped Gareth Gates I remember seeing a programme about it but no more than that. He has pretty much been cleared of it.

 

My son had speech therapy for about 4 years and he still can't pronounce 'th' sounds and you have to be prepared to stop and listen because he takes his time to speak. Being patient and calm when a child is talking is very hard but very important.

[moochoo]

My friends' son stammered terribly and had bedwetting issues too. He had a course of hypnotherapy to unlock the "blocking" that stopped him getting the words out. The therapist gave him a special "key" to use when he felt frustrated or nervous.

This really was a miracle cure and unless he's exceptionally tired he talks very well as has done for 2 years.

[Alis girls]

My son went to a summer school thing run by the HA. His speech therapist was brillaint. he went in the summer hols for about 4 hours a day 5 days a week with other kids. they took them down the local shops and had them expalining to shop keepers that they had a stammer and they had to buy sweets. he loved it. He has outgrown it to a degree but occ if hes overexcited and talks fast we have to slow him down. stress was a big factor. The Michael palin centre (I think its called ) had a new form of treatment out - google it. I would push for more help. the main thing and its stating the obvious is to be open - my son used to go up to new kids he made friends with on holiday and tell them he had a stammer. He was quite mature and its not easy for younger kids. Encourage confidence building activities like martial arts whcih also help with bullying. Ant (now 13) has a lot of supportive mates who when he started sec school and a problem with a little oirk who was giving him a hard time helped stand up for him. he also had to tell the teachers he had stammer which was hard. good luck - if you are not happy with care - tell them and ask fot more help

[Alis girls]

Pengy - it is the Michael Palin Centre. I think you can self refer. but contact them. I was intersted to know why stammerers can sing and she was saying its because they are not strictily "themselves" - many actors stammer too. there is light at the end of the tunnel. i dont know how old your son is. Good luck Ali

[missuscluck]

We had a young lad come to work for us at 16 years old some years ago. His stammering was so bad that his dad had to speak for him at interview. He could barley get a word out.

 

However he seemed such a lovley lad that we took a chance on him and employed him. He worked for us for about 3 years before going on to bigger and better things and in that time reached the point where he could speak fluently to us and customers and answer the phone.

 

When he started work answering the phone would have been his worst nightmare. Now when we see him you would never tell he was so bad.

 

My husband worked very closley with him as he was his apprentice. He used to tell him to take his time. Looked at him directly and never butted in or finished off his sentence for him. As he gained confidance as a grown up in a grown up environment the change was staggering. I dont think for a minute its all down to Hubby. I think he was just ready to shake it off.

 

I guess the moral of the story is the change can happen at any time and its never too late. Perhaps you just have to be at the right stage to tackle it.

 

Good luck Pengy. Im sure James will conquer it.

[The Dogmother]

Awww, bless the wee chap, give him a big hug from me.

 

I noticed that he stammered less when he was more relaxed, so perhaps the suggestion of relaxation sessions would be a good idea.

[Seagazer]

Both my boys have had speech problems to a certain extent although both are much better now. With my youngest, his well meaning reception teacher tried to do too many things to help him, he was already having speech therapy but she insisted on lots of other people getting involved and in the end he started stammering. Thankfully our therapist called a halt to everything and after about 5 months he stopped. I always made a point of letting him finish himself what he wanted to say and keeping eye contact with him.

 

We have an adult friend who stammers and he always said he just wanted people to take the time to listen to him. I agree it can be frustrating but it is so much more frustrating for the stammerer.

[Egluntyne]

Poor little boy. I hope you can find the right help and support for him. He must be finding life very difficult.

[xScrunchee]

Ditto to what Eglutine said.

 

I feel really sorry for him, it must be so frustrating.