The stammering child

For any child who has a stammering problem, life can be quite tough at times. I myself know this for a fact as I went through virtually my whole childhood suffering from this form of speech impediment.

 

Now of course I am fully aware that the experiences I went through are not the same as what every other person who has a stammer goes through, but I would not wish a stammer on any child.

 

For the past eleven years, ever since I have overcome my own stammer, I have been showing and teaching other people the techniques of how to achieve fluency.

 

I have met many people and most of them are more than happy to discuss the ways in which their stammer affected them. It is like they are getting the frustration of their negative experiences off their chest, discussing them with someone who has also been there etc. It is like an additional form of speech therapy for them and just like an old famous advert once said, "it is good to talk".

 

So in which ways can a stammer affect a child's life? Well firstly it is not so much the fact that they stammer but more in the way other people react to it. Some of the other children in the class start to laugh and mock, you can't really blame them, they are young after all.

 

This mental abuse can seriously affect the self-confidence of the person who has the stammer and can make them afraid to speak.

 

Any form of socialising can be made a lot more difficult, including going to the park, being involved in a sporting team, going to the cubs or scouts. All of these areas are made all the more harder by the stammer, in fact I have to admit that I was a person who actually decided not to attend such social occasions because of my stammer.

 

Living life with a stammer makes it one huge battle, a battle however which can be won.