Stuttering in children: causes and treatment according to Komarovsky

If the child stutters, or it seems to you that he starts stammering, you can not wait. Such a speech disorder requires immediate parental response. Yevgeny Komarovsky, a well-known pediatrician and pet of millions of Internet moms, argues that the most important thing in stuttering treatment is not to self-medicate. And certainly, do not try to treat the child using Internet methods to unknown “specialists” who offer remotely, for a “purely symbolic” fee, send a detailed plan of actions to the concerned parents that can teach the child to speak normally.

If there is reason to believe that the pussy began to stutter, you should immediately visit a speech therapist. Now it is easier to do this than 15 years ago, since many kindergartens use the services of an “attached” speech therapist. If there is no such specialist in your preschool, you need to contact the clinic in the place of residence. They will tell you where it takes the nearest speech therapist.

First, stuttering is not a disease, but a speech disorder. And it occurs when the muscles of the child’s vocal apparatus twitch convulsively. The result is a repetition of the sound or its prolongation. The treatment of such a violation puzzled even the ancient Aztecs, who saw the cause of stuttering in the fact that the grown-up child continues to suck the mother's breast. The first speech correction techniques for stuttering were developed by Plutarch. He suggested stutters to recite speeches to the loud sound of sea waves.

Congenital factors:

• Heredity. If mom, dad or someone from grandmothers, grandfathers stutter, it is likely that the baby will also begin to stutter.
• Intrauterine hypoxia of the fetus. If the crumbs during of pregnancy Mom did not have enough oxygen, speech disorders - the most harmless consequence of this condition.
• Infection, transferred crumbs in utero. It happens that pregnant women carry infectious diseases. Together with the mothers are sick and still unborn toddler. The result of an infection can be a speech disorder.
• Prematurity, premature birth.
• Hypoxia originated in the generic process.

Acquired factors:

• Strong fear, which survived baby.
• A big and important event in the life of a child (it can be both grief and joy).
• Transferred infectious disease. Stuttering may well be the result of measles, meningitis, encephalitis, etc.
• Unfavorable situation in the family, often associated with manifestations of violence.
• Features speech mom and dad. If one of the parents stutters, the child can simply imitate the parent, in fact, he will not stutter.

Kids aged 1 to 4 years old stutter in a special way. They long and rather painfully try to repeat the same sound, and when they fail, the crumbs close up and fall silent. In such children, says Yevgeny Komarovsky, it is easier to notice stuttering if the child is away from home.

When the baby is in a familiar environment, the speech defect is not so noticeable, he speaks calmer and more even, but in all its glory the violation is revealed if a new unfamiliar environment surrounds the toddler. Stuttering at this age will surely manifest itself on a walk, in the children's team - in the kindergarten, at a mass event where the kid will try to communicate with other children.

Stuttering in children 7 years old can be caused by an abundance of new information for them. At this age, the baby is usually sent to school. Shy and nervous children are quite difficult to sustain new loads. The situation is aggravated by ridicule from classmates. At this age, it is no secret, children are quite cruel to each other. In this age group, boys are also leaders in the presence of a defect.

Dr. Komarovsky recommends that parents remain calm. Calmness - external and internal - and will be the main cure for stuttering.

• It is necessary to determine the cause of the speech defect. After that, try to eliminate it. If a child stutters because parents scream at him, or they scream at each other in the presence of a child, it is necessary to “slow down” and provide the child with a normal calm home environment. If the reason for stuttering is not clear, contact a specialist, you can visit a child psychologist. Carefully observe the baby, not giving the appearance that you notice his problem, and find out exactly when he begins to stutter, what factors provoke him, what the weather is behind the window, what events precede the difficulty of pronunciation. From the observations, make a mini-diary that will help the specialist to find out the true causes of stuttering.
• Try to speak with your baby clearly, slowly, clearly and clearly speaking the words. Ask your child to try to say the words only as you exhale. Speech therapists often use this technique.
• Say no to TV, noisy games, computer. Remember about calm. It is better to protect the child from listening to loud music, cartoons or, even worse, news releases on TV, emotional overload. Allow the baby to watch a favorite cartoon no more than 10 minutes a day. Try to include your child’s audio fairy tales, which are read slowly, monotonously. Singing and breathing exercises will benefit, they are able to relax the muscles of the vocal apparatus.

• Children - baby. Do not find out family relationships in the presence of the child, even if the crumb is busy with his business and pretends not to hear adults, he just pretends. In fact, the baby as a sponge "absorbs" all your words.
• No entry for unauthorised people! If the baby begins to stutter in the presence of others, try to keep the presence of these strangers to a minimum.
• Strengthening procedures. Komarovsky recommends stuttering kids baths and games in the water. Let the child use all the toys he has to entertain him, let him blow bubbles. It is advisable that the toddler take a bath at least twice a day. Very important and walks in the fresh air.
• Baby food. Dr. Komarovsky advises more often to give the child products that, due to the high content of microelements, have a positive effect on the development of speech function. These are sea fish, dried fruits, sour cream, cottage cheese, kefir, yoghurts.
• Massage. Massage should be directed to correct posture problems, if any. Fortifying massage, which can be conducted in courses for 2 weeks with a break of 10 days, will also be suitable.

In the next video, Dr. Komarovsky and his colleagues more extensively consider the problem of stuttering in children.