Question
I am working with a severe stutterer who makes good grades in everything except reading fluency. He does have a difficult time when reading blocks and repeats words. How can I instruct the teacher and parent in modifying the requirement of words per minut
Answer
This is a great question. Thank you for asking us to discuss it. One of the most important things you can do to help children who stutter is to eliminate or reduce time pressure. By making this child read material in a specified amount of time, his teachers and/or parents are actually increasing the possibility that he will stutter more. I would advise the parents and the teachers to remove the time restrictions and let the child read at his own pace. They might need some education and counseling to understand that time pressure and speaking demand will likely lead to an increase in speech disfluencies, which will have more of a negative impact on his reading fluency. If he is able to go at his own pace, and feel that he has time to implement learned speech modification and stuttering modification techniques, then his reading fluency might improve as well.
The other issue here is that reading fluency should not be based solely on how many words can be read per minute. It seems to me that places too much of an emphasis on speed, rather than accuracy. One of the things we try to accomplish with many children who stutter is to teach them a phrased speech approach (breaking up sentences into smaller units), which reduces overall communication rate.
There are many great resources for teachers of children who stutter. These may be helpful to educate them about stuttering.
Craig E. Coleman is a Clinical Coordinator at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and Co-Director of the Stuttering Center of Western Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the University of Pittsburgh. Craig is a Board-Recognized Specialist in Fluency Disorders. He has served on the Legislative Council of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Craig is also a past president of the Pennsylvania Speech, Language, and Hearing Association.
Craig Coleman, M.A.,CCC-SLP
Related Courses
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'I appreciate all the goal examples, and explaining where to start treatment depending on where they are in their understanding of stuttering and why'Read Reviews
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