Parents as Partners in Young Children's Stuttering Treatment
by Anne Cordes Bothe
from Georgia, USA
Mr. and Mrs. Allen arranged for their son Arnie to be evaluated by a speech-language pathologist (SLP) when he was 2 years and 10 months old. He had been stuttering for at least 6 months, maybe more. After the evaluation, the SLP explained to the Allens that they needed to speak more slowly around him and not ask him too many questions, because this would help his stuttering. Mrs. Allen's brother, who was also an SLP, told them on the phone a few weeks later that the advice they had received was outdated and would not help Arnie, and he needed to be taught to use gentle, stretchy speech. After another few weeks, they asked Arnie's SLP about this advice. She told them that there are many views on children's stuttering but that, essentially, Mrs. Allen's brother was wrong. When Arnie was three and a half years old, still stuttering as much as ever, the Allens called a third SLP and were given a third opinion.
Mrs. Baker first called an SLP on the eve of her son Bill's fourth birthday. Bill's pediatrician had told her several times during the past 18 months that Bill would most likely grow out of his stuttering, that they should just ignore it, and that there was no need to do anything at all until he turned four. She had waited as long as she could, watching her son struggle but diligently following the doctor's prescription, until finally on the day before his birthday she found herself in tears again -- and literally unable to wait one more day to pick up the phone.
Mr. and Mrs. Carson had their son Carlos's speech evaluated several times by the SLPs in his elementary school, and Carlos was repeatedly diagnosed with stuttering. For some reasons that they never clearly understood, however, he was always described as too mild to qualify for speech therapy at school. Carlos continued to stutter, and his parents continued to be concerned, especially because Carlos seemed to be refusing to join in activities that he had previously enjoyed. Finally, as Carlos began the third grade, the Carsons sought advice from a family friend who was an SLP. She recommended that they call the university clinic in the next town, because she knew about some of the work being done at the university with children and adults who stutter.
I would guess, unfortunately, that these families' experiences probably sound discouragingly familiar to anyone who has known a young child who stutters. On a more positive note, Arnie, Bill, and Carlos's stories all have a happy ending: They all participated in a study about the treatment of children's stuttering here at The University of Georgia, and they are no longer stuttering. In what follows, I would like to briefly explain this study, as a framework for exploring several questions about how parents and SLPs can work together to assess and treat children's stuttering.
Diagnosing Stuttering in Young Children
Wendell Johnson, one of the pioneers in stuttering theory, proposed that stuttering was the end result of a cycle that began with parental misdiagnosis or overinterpretation of children's normal disfluencies (Johnson & Associates, 1959). It has since been demonstrated convincingly that parents of children who stutter are no stricter than other parents with respect to the speech behaviors that they label stuttering (e.g., Curran & Hood, 1977). Nevertheless, the idea that parents overidentify stuttering in their young children seems to be an oddly persistent notion in our professional and clinical literature. While many other factors are obviously involved, I believe that the advice to wait and allow stuttering to resolve itself, as the Bakers' pediatrician recommended, and the claim that mild stuttering does not need to be treated, as Carlos and his parents were told, are both related to this idea. In other words, in general, it seems that some professionals begin from the assumption that parents are too eager to diagnose stuttering in their children and too eager to force their children into unnecessary treatment.
Such views are very different from the views that control other areas of speech-language pathology. We usually teach our students to listen to parents' concerns and to believe parents' descriptions of the problem. Research about identifying children with specific language impairment, for example, has demonstrated that a young child's parents may be the single best source of information about that child's abilities and problems (Restrepo, 1998). We also work, in general, from the assumption that early identification and early treatment will tend to be the best approach for many disorders.
What does this mean for parents and SLPs working together to diagnosis and assess children's stuttering? First of all, on the whole, I proceed from two assumptions. One, if parents have believed that their child is stuttering long enough to have made and attended an appointment with an SL
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الوالدان كشركاء في علاج التأتأة الأطفال الصغارقبل أن كورديس بوتهمن جورجيا، الولايات المتحدة الأمريكيةالسيد والسيدة الين رتبت لابنهما أرني يتم تقييمه بواسطة أخصائي لغة كلام (SLP) عندما كان 2 سنة و 10 أشهر. أنه قد تم التأتأة على الأقل 6 أشهر، ربما أكثر. بعد التقييم، أوضح SLP ل Allens أنها في حاجة إلى التحدث ببطء أكثر حوله ولا اسأله أسئلة كثيرة جداً، لأن هذا سيساعد في بلده التأتأة. وقال شقيق السيدة الين، الذي كان أيضا SLP، لهم على الهاتف بعد أسابيع قليلة أن النصيحة التي تلقتها قد عفا عليه الزمن ولن يساعد أرني، وأنه بحاجة إلى أن تدرس باستخدام الكلام لطيف، وبسط. بعد أسابيع قليلة أخرى، وسألوا أرني لفائدة الشرطة حول هذه النصيحة. قالت لهم أن هناك آراء عديدة بشأن الأطفال متعثرة ولكن، أساسا، شقيق السيدة الين كانت خاطئة. عندما كان أرني ثلاثة ونصف سنة، لا تزال متعثرة بقدر من أي وقت مضى، Allens يسمى ثالث SLP وأعطيت له رأي ثالث.ودعا السيدة بيكر أولاً SLP عشية عيد ميلاد لها سند ابن الرابعة. قال طبيب الأطفال بيل لها عدة مرات خلال الأشهر ال 18 الماضية أن مشروع قانون آخر يرجح أن تنمو خارج بلده متعثرة، أنهم ينبغي تجاهله تماما، وأنه لا حاجة القيام بأي شيء على الإطلاق حتى أنه تحول أربعة. وقالت أنها قد انتظرت طالما أنها يمكن أن يراقب نضالها ابنه لكن جد بعد وصفه الطبيب، حتى أخيرا في يوم قبل عيد ميلاده وقالت أنها وجدت نفسها في البكاء مرة أخرى--وحرفيا غير قادر على الانتظار يوما واحداً التقاط الهاتف.السيد والسيدة كارسون الكلام على ابنه كارلوس لتقييم عدة مرات من قبل التخاطب في مدرسته الابتدائية، وقد شخصت كارلوس مرارا وتكرارا في التأتأة. لبعض الأسباب التي يفهمونها ابدأ ومن الواضح، مع ذلك، أنه دائماً وصفت بأنها خفيفة جداً للتأهل لعلاج النطق في المدرسة. كارلوس وواصلت تلعثم، والديه ظلت تشعر بالقلق، خاصة وأن كارلوس أن رفضها للمشاركة في الأنشطة التي كانت تتمتع سابقا بأنه على ما يبدو. وأخيراً، كارلوس بدأ الصف الثالث، كارسونس التمست المشورة من صديق أسرة الذي كان SLP. وأوصت بأن يسمونه عيادة الجامعة في بلده المقبل، نظراً لأنها عرفت عن بعض العمل الذي يجري القيام به في الجامعة مع الأطفال والبالغين الذين تلعثم.للأسف، أعتقد أن تجارب هذه الأسر ربما الصوت يذكره مألوفة لأي شخص قد يعرف طفل الصغير الذي التعتعة. على إيجابية أكثر ملاحظة، أرني، بيل، وكارلوس لقصص جميع لها نهاية سعيدة: جميعها شاركت في دراسة حول معاملة الأطفال متعثرة هنا في "جامعة جورجيا" وأنها لم تعد هي متعثرة. في ما يلي، أود أن اشرح بإيجاز هذه الدراسة، كإطار لاستكشاف العديد من الأسئلة حول كيف الآباء والتخاطب يمكن العمل معا لتقييم وعلاج التأتأة للأطفال.تشخيص التأتأة لدى الأطفال الصغارWendell Johnson, one of the pioneers in stuttering theory, proposed that stuttering was the end result of a cycle that began with parental misdiagnosis or overinterpretation of children's normal disfluencies (Johnson & Associates, 1959). It has since been demonstrated convincingly that parents of children who stutter are no stricter than other parents with respect to the speech behaviors that they label stuttering (e.g., Curran & Hood, 1977). Nevertheless, the idea that parents overidentify stuttering in their young children seems to be an oddly persistent notion in our professional and clinical literature. While many other factors are obviously involved, I believe that the advice to wait and allow stuttering to resolve itself, as the Bakers' pediatrician recommended, and the claim that mild stuttering does not need to be treated, as Carlos and his parents were told, are both related to this idea. In other words, in general, it seems that some professionals begin from the assumption that parents are too eager to diagnose stuttering in their children and too eager to force their children into unnecessary treatment.Such views are very different from the views that control other areas of speech-language pathology. We usually teach our students to listen to parents' concerns and to believe parents' descriptions of the problem. Research about identifying children with specific language impairment, for example, has demonstrated that a young child's parents may be the single best source of information about that child's abilities and problems (Restrepo, 1998). We also work, in general, from the assumption that early identification and early treatment will tend to be the best approach for many disorders.What does this mean for parents and SLPs working together to diagnosis and assess children's stuttering? First of all, on the whole, I proceed from two assumptions. One, if parents have believed that their child is stuttering long enough to have made and attended an appointment with an SL?
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