Stuttering Therapy for Preschool Children
When a child starts to stutter, parents are often told "All kids stutter, he'll grow out of it" or "Just give it some time. It will stop on it's own." While many children do recover from stuttering spontaneously, with no clinical assistance, approximately 25-30% of children don't. Unfortunately, we don't yet know which children will continue to stutter and which won't. However, there are specific risk factors that can put a child at increased risk of persistent stuttering. Some of these risk factors include:
Research has shown, that with early intervention an increased number of children will recover from stuttering. Therefore, the STAR Center's aim is to provide therapy that gives each child the greatest chance to recover from stuttering while becoming effective communicators.
Therapy for preschool children starts with an evaluation, to assess the child's and family's needs. Then, typically therapy is provided weekly, for one or two 30 minute sessions depending on the child's and family's needs. While preschool therapy is focused around the child, parents and caretaker involvement, education, and counseling are all integrate parts of the process.
- Family history of stuttering
- Time since stuttering onset (greater than 6 months)
- Other co-existing speech or language disorders
- Frustration with his/her stuttering
- Consistency of stuttering
Research has shown, that with early intervention an increased number of children will recover from stuttering. Therefore, the STAR Center's aim is to provide therapy that gives each child the greatest chance to recover from stuttering while becoming effective communicators.
Therapy for preschool children starts with an evaluation, to assess the child's and family's needs. Then, typically therapy is provided weekly, for one or two 30 minute sessions depending on the child's and family's needs. While preschool therapy is focused around the child, parents and caretaker involvement, education, and counseling are all integrate parts of the process.