The number of people who stutter is constantly increasing. The causes of stuttering are not fully understood. Maybe the ever faster pace of life is to blame? Moses was stuttering. The emperor Claudius and the Greek orator Demosthenes also struggled with this speech impediment.

- It is not proper to laugh at a disabled person. But making fun of a stutterer is common, says Sylwia Andrzejewska, a therapist from Świnoujście. - Imperfect speech causes embarrassment and embarrassment.Stutteringleads to fear of speaking. The stronger the less the acceptance of others is. It's hard to help - Often people who stutter want to say everything quickly, to get their words out. And this is a mistake - explains Krzysztof Szamburski, psychologist-speech therapist, lecturer at the University of Warsaw. - Speaking consists of several phases. Therefore, it is important that the stutterer first transforms his thoughts into the words and sentences he wants to say, then takes a deep breath and takes off. For a person who is not fluent, it is not easy - he emphasizes.

You must do it

If your child stutters:

  • try to speak slowly, nicely and clearly
  • devote a lot of time and attention to him
  • let him speak, don't interrupt, don't finish for him
  • don't let anyone talk for them
  • give your child the certainty that nothing bad will happen if he gets stuck while he is saying - he doesn't have to be ashamed of it

Stuttering - it's better to sing than to speak

The number of people who stutter is constantly increasing. - This is the price we pay for an ever faster pace of life.Jammingis revealed in stressful situations. It is sometimes the cause of neurosis. Therefore, it is important that such people do not feel embarrassed and accept the principle: I stutter, but I can tell - explains Róża Sobocińska, a therapist from Toruń. He knows adults who masked their ailment so that no one knew about it. They did not pronounce words that were difficult for them. - Interestingly, the stutterers sing fluently and when they whisper, they stutter much less - adds the therapist.

Various causes of stuttering

Over 400,000 people are stuttered in Poland, and around 45 million adults and 180 million children worldwide. - Stuttering is not on the disease list. So we have problems with the reimbursement of rehabilitation equipment or with childcare allowances for children, explains Andrzej Wójtowicz, president of the Polish Association of Stutterers.The causes of stuttering are not fully understood. It is said to be the result of minimal brain dysfunction or impaired left hemisphere function. Scientists also emphasize the inheritance of predispositions. Sometimes fear, a long-term illness or the shock of an accident are enough. According to Krzysztof Szamburski,speech defectdevelops when the child is reprimanded for stuttering, or on the contrary, when the parents pretend to him that everything is fine, but talk behind his back about this handicap. However, when a child accidentally hears it, he becomes convinced that he is doing something so wrong that it is impossible to even talk about it. Meanwhile, if the stuttering started a week or two earlier, things can be quickly reversed. - In the case of small children, meetings with their parents are sufficient. They must be taught to speak slowly and calmly. The atmosphere at home is very important, explains Róża Sobocińska.

Important

We most often start stuttering between the ages of three and six. Then two out of five children have difficulty speaking fluently. One in a hundred will continue to stutter. Scientists distinguish three types of stuttering:

  • Clonically repeating the same sound or syllable;
  • Tonic spasmodic stuttering, pushing out by the power of voice or words;
  • Clonic-tonic combines both of the previous types.

Stuttering therapy - group support needed

A proven way to speak fluently is to train slower pronunciation, lengthening sounds, syllables, pauses, speaking on the exhale. This is helped by tapping a rhythm, uttering words in a metronome tempo, or synchronizing speech with the echo corrector. Scientists from the Gdańsk University of Technology have developed a new speech corrector. The camera (the size of a cigarette box with a microphone and headphones) invented by prof. Andrzej Czyżewski and Marek Roland-Mieszkowski uses two methods of fluency of speech. It delays (the speaker hears the echo of his words through the headphones) and raises or lowers his voice. Thanks to the Foundation for Polish Science, 100 prototypes were produced. - They are given to psychological and pedagogical counseling centers, provided that they send observations on the effectiveness of the device - explains prof. Czyżewski. Speech therapists emphasize the role of group therapy. - The stutterer can see that he is not alone, and this helps - says Sylwia Andrzejewska.

Where to go for help
  • Polish Association of Speech Therapists http://www.logopeda.org.pl/
  • Polish Association of Stutterers "Ostoja", 20-380 Lublin, 1st floor of the Polish Army, tel. (81) 532 48 22 - Dr. Elżbieta Bujakowa

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