Solving Stuttering

We often encounter in our lives people who have speech impediments. But the most common among these speech impediments is stuttering, a condition which, is caused by stress and anxiety starting from the person's developmental stages. In fact, studies show that more and more adults and kids suffer from speech impediments such as stuttering because it is not addressed properly during the early stages of growth.

As these kids grow up, stuttering becomes a problem because it hinders them from communicating properly not only with their peers but to people across all age brackets. People who stutter often times find it hard to communicate with people that can speak normally because they are afraid of rejection, it's up to people who are lucky enough to speak clearly to understand these people who are not as good as them with words.

Day-to-day struggle due to stuttering

Stuttering is indeed a very serious problem for young and old people. With stuttering problems, simple daily tasks like saying their names when somebody asks for it, answering the telephone for a call or making a phone call, giving out directions for people asking, asking for specific instructions, and even ordering a meal from a fast-food store can be hugely disappointing and frustrating.

People who suffer from stuttering experience being ostracized in the society just because they cannot speak well. This inability of self expression makes other people irritated at times so the tendency is for the stutter to veer away from the crowd as much as possible. In a school setting, studies show that other children who don't have problems in speech are bullying almost 90 percent of kids who are stuttering.

This bullying happens everywhere—inside the classroom during a recitation, inside the canteen during recess or snack break, within the campus during break hours, and even outside the school when classes are over. This is because many kids find stuttering funny and they would want to make fun of stutters without realizing its adverse effects on their peers.

In work places, adults who stutter also experience the same kind of exclusion. Many people don’t usually mingle with stutters because they feel that it's such a waste of time talking to somebody who cannot express him or herself freely and fluidly. The tendency is that the person who suffers from stuttering will become an introvert, avoiding crowds and people just to be spared from being teased and ridiculed.

What the society can do

The components of the society can play a major role in solving the stuttering problems among kids and adults. First of all, the parents themselves can greatly help their kids overcome this condition by giving them guidance and all kinds of support that they need. Parents must make their kids understand that stuttering does not make them less of a person and that they should not feel intimated by others.

Parents must also emphasize that a child's dreams, desires, and talents should determine the focus of their future and not their stuttering. When parents motivate their children to dream high and have high hopes for the future, when they tell their kids that even the most successful people are sick in a way just like them—the kids will be encouraged to do better and be better in all aspects of their lives.

For teachers, they should always make the child feel secure and understood whenever he or she is inside the classroom. They should avoid pressuring the child who is stuttering because the more pressure he or she feels the bigger room for mistake there is. Teachers should always act as the second parents of children in school, providing them all the support, care, and understanding they need.

The society at large can also greatly help people who are suffering from stuttering by giving them proper respect and treating them as normal people who equally deserve the rights and freedom they enjoy.