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Myth: People who stutter are not smart.
Reality: There is no link whatsoever between stuttering and intelligence.
Myth: Nervousness causes stuttering.
Reality: Nervousness does not cause stuttering. Nor should we assume that people who stutter are prone to be nervous, fearful, anxious, or shy. They have the same full range of personality traits as those who do not stutter.
Myth: Stuttering can be “caught” through imitation or by hearing another person stutter.
Reality: You can’t “catch” stuttering. No one knows the exact causes of stuttering, but recent research indicates that family history (genetics), neuromuscular development, and the child’s environment, including family dynamics, all play a role in the onset of stuttering.
Myth: It helps to tell a person to “take a deep breath before talking,” or “think about what you want to say first.”
Reality: This advice only makes a person more self-conscious, making the stuttering worse. More helpful responses include listening patiently and modeling slow and clear speech yourself.
Myth: Stress causes stuttering.
Reality: As mentioned above, many complex factors are involved. Stress is not the cause, but it certainly can aggravate stuttering.
As a mother of a kid who stuttered I can say this.
Do not draw attention to it to the child!
We never told my kid he stuttered.
When he did it we would say to him Whoa you talked sooooo fast we could not understand what you just said.
But we did not make talking fast bad we made it cool but that us adults could not understand it but wished we could talk that fast.
So we boosted him up than redirected him.
We would have him take a deep breath and than talk slow to us adults.
And it worked!
He only knew after he was older that he stuttered and by than who cared he did not do it anymore.
Excellent post!
I'm not a kid anymore, but I stutter quite a bit. Mostly people just ask me to slow down and speak clearly. I find if I do take a second to mull over what I want to say, it comes out a little better. It's best if I can write down what I want to say in advance, since my stuttering is caused by a processing disorder.
I did have trouble with one lady when I was working at Starbucks down south. She chewed me out because I asked her to back up her car so I could see her face since I need facial and context clues to figure out what people are saying.
Interesting reading: NCAPD (http://www.ncapd.org/php/ - broken link)
What really burns me up is how people treat stuttering as a joke, yet if they were the ones with it, they would catch feelings real quick. Also, are people that embarrassed by stuttering that most people refer to it as "speech impediment" I think most people know that when they hear or read about someone with a speech impediment, stuttering is the first one that comes to mind. I feel bad for stutterers because they know what they want to say but can't get the words out fluently...and to top it off, have jerks ridicule/bully them for something out of their control. Stutterers are no different than you or me, they are A- with me. It's a really complex, variable disorder. You also have closet stutterers, people who stutter but you would never know because they speak normally like everyone else, but deep down they are ashamed of their stuttering because of others' reaction. In that case, I don't know if they have trained themselves to turn off their stuttering or what....
I spent 6 years in speech classes... I was a mess when it came to trying to talk as a kid. It's good to hear folks being understanding about people who stutter (and other various speech issues). It's really horrible to have to learn to communicate when your brain and mouth don't work in synch - let alone be tormented about it .
I spent 6 years in speech classes... I was a mess when it came to trying to talk as a kid. It's good to hear folks being understanding about people who stutter (and other various speech issues). It's really horrible to have to learn to communicate when your brain and mouth don't work in synch - let alone be tormented about it .
Yea...Your vocal cords and brain have to be in sync or your speech is a mess. Stutterers didn't ask for their stuttering so that's idiotic to torment someone for that....
Oh, and teachers who think it is a good idea for the stuttering kid to get up in front of the class and 'get over it' ~ REALLY need to re-think that strategy.
Thanks for the good info.I'm a stutterer and I appreciate it.
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