Diagnosis of speech and language disorders
Educators usually notice a speech or language disorder. Parents may only notice a disorder incidentally or assume that it will subside with age. In case of doubt, parents should first consult with educators.Often kindergarten teachers and primary school teachers have a good feeling for the language performance that a particular age group should actually achieve.
A detailed consultation and diagnosis, however, takes place with a specialist. In the first place, a pediatrician should be consulted. If necessary, he or she will arrange for a referral to an ENT specialist or speech therapist.
All of them will put the child’s speech ability in relation to his age and stage of development. Bumpy and unclear speech can be quite normal at kindergarten age, for example, and should not be a cause for concern for parents. Some ENT specialists have the additional title “Phoniatrics and Pedaudiology”. These ENT physicians are usually familiar with the diagnosis and treatment of speech and language disorders.
Drugs
There are no drugs against stuttering itself yet. Nevertheless, drugs against tension and anxiety (fear) can ease certain situations and thus improve the symptoms. The best advice on this can be given by child and youth psychiatrists.
They have a wealth of experience in anxiety therapy and know the spectrum of anxiety-relieving drugs (anxiolytics). Learn more about this under: Overview of anxiety disorders If the caregivers listen patiently to the stutterer, let him or her speak out and confront him or her with understanding, the stutterer will usually enjoy speaking and it will be easier for him or her to control the flow of speech. Within the family, stuttering should not be considered at all.
On the contrary, corrective interventions by others, impatience and inacceptance promote a stressful situation and complicate the stutterer’s flow of speech. The latter takes place mainly at school. Children quickly realize that they can weaken and offend their stuttering classmates, like to correct them and annoy them with smiles and ignorance.
Parents and teachers should therefore not be afraid to openly address the situation in class to appeal to the understanding of their classmates! The affected person himself usually does not like to talk about such teasing and skillfully hides his shame from the educators and parents. Here, too, open conversations should be held from time to time in order to assess the child’s situation and to be able to influence it if necessary.
- When does the stutterer feel relief?
- What should accompany every therapy?
- What can parents and teachers do?
