Childhood stuttering

Abstract

It is generally agreed that the onset of stuttering occurs during childhood in most cases. In the present paper, the process of treatment of a girl (3 years and 4 months) who began to stutter at the age of 1 year and 9 months was reported. Through the experience of the treatment spanning 3 years, the following points for treating stuttering in preschool children were suggested: (1) instruction designed to increase the child's experience of fluent speech; (2) adjustment of environmental factors affecting effective communication; (3) proper attempts to decrease negative feelings toward one's own stuttering. We could facilitate fluency using the "Easy Relaxed Speech" model, which could also serve as a proper model of communication for parents. This case had awareness of stuttering in her early childhood. It was important for speech therapists to listen to the child's speech carefully, and to confront the problem through good and natural communication with both the child and its parents. It was also important to give the child abundant opportunities for self-affirmative speech experiences in order to obtain self-confidence.