There are some children who are blessed with exceptionally eloquent speaking skills, but there are also some kids who have to struggle to utter words smoothly out of their mouths. They have to pat some hard object to let the words slip out of their tongues. This is one of the most common speech disorders which is in common parlance defined as ‘stammering’. Such problems often serve as the communication barrier which often tends to disrupt the interaction and level of understanding. Such kids are often found gripped with lower self-esteem and self-confidence. These kids become more introverted in a due course of time if such issue remains unaddressed. Also, a child becomes secluded from the society and people and prefers to avoid talking to new people due to the fear of being judged and mocked.
Such issues can be addressed and the speech disorder can be cured completely through speech therapy. In this blog, we are going to discuss how speech therapy works and how it can revive the lost confidence and self-belief of your child.
- How speech therapy works
Speech therapy works in ways that benefit the child with a speech disorder in numerous ways. It focuses on improving a child’s speech and their ability to understand. Problems like poor articulation and phonological and voice disorders. It focuses on improving the articulation of words and speaking fluently. It primarily addresses the difficulty a child often undergoes while trying to frame sentences.
- Tips for parents to address the speech disorder of children at home
Parents can actually help a great deal in curing this disorder. If your child is stuttering, the most important thing parents can do for their child is to not pressurize them and preventing any negative comments shot to discourage them.
It’s important for the parents to keep in mind the following tricks that can be applied to polish their speaking skills.
- Encourage them to talk: It’s quintessential to remain patient with such kids. Encourage such kids to talk a lot and give them space and freedom to take ample time to finish their sentences. Ask them creative questions such as, “what would you do if you were a fairy for a day or a unicorn?” By asking such questions, it will push them to think of ways to speak clearly and freedom to express their ideas properly. The more they think, the more refinement it will inculcate into their speech. Listen to your child carefully while they speak. It boosts their confidence.
- Play Chinese whisper: It’s a very famous game that can be tried with your child along with a group of siblings or closest friends, they feel most comfortable with.
- Make your child read: Books usually turn out to be the best-est pals one can ever ask for. Make your child fall in love with the reading and books. Encourage your child to read out the text aloud from the book. This is certainly the best of all therapies to cure speech disorder and it always works like wonder.
- Do an assessment: Assess your child’s speech functioning and development and figure out what are such areas that require improvement. Try analysing their development in the target areas as well as the neglected areas and visit the specialist if required. Specialist will help you to try some more interesting activities and exercises to bolster the benefits of therapy.
Most importantly, be empathetic with your kids. Don’t try to compare their progress with other kids around especially the ones with razor-sharp eloquence. They improve faster if parents are empathetic and supportive of them. Practise utmost patience and try spreading positivity and warmth around them while helping your kids to speak and learn. This will enable them to speak effortlessly with confidence.