Childhood dysphemia: causes and treatment

Childhood dysphemia or stuttering is a speech disorder that makes it difficult for speech production to be fluent. Children with childhood dysphemia often stutter at the beginning of sentences, but they may stutter at other times during speech as well. The child may stutter by repeating (syllables, words or phrases), prolonging sounds or not making any type of sound.

In addition, when a child stutters, they tend to perform other non-verbal behaviors such as blinking many times, making faces or clenching their fists. In this Psychology-Online article, we explain the infantile dysphemia, its possible causes and treatment.

Index

1. Causes of childhood stuttering
2. How often do children with dysphemia stutter?
3. Effects of childhood dysphemia
4. Childhood dysphemia: exercises
5. How to improve stuttering in children?

To this day we do not know exactly what causes stuttering. However, there are different related factors:

• Dysphemia can occur because there is a mistake or a delay in message that he brain of the child sends the muscles of the mouth necessary for oral production. This error or delay in sending the message makes it very difficult to coordinate the muscles of the mouth when speaking and as a result stuttering occurs.
• Genetic factorsA child with a family history of someone with stuttering is more likely to develop childhood dysphemia. But this does not mean that a child with a family with dysphemia will certainly stutter.
• Others language problems and development
• A speed of speech very fast

How often children with dysphemia stutter varies greatly from case to case. Some children only do it occasionally throughout the day, while others may stutter at every word they say. Stuttering can change a lot from day to day, in weeks or months. Sometimes it can go away completely for days, weeks, or months and come back again.

Parents report that there are particular situations that worsen or improve their children's stuttering. For example, children when they are tired, angry, or excited may stutter more.

• Children who stutter may feel frustrated or embarrassed by the way other children react when they do so. This causes them to avoid public speaking or change what they wanted to say to facilitate fluent speech.
• However, dysphemia does not affect development. A child with stuttering has the same social skills than a child who does not have it. They are not more likely to be shy compared to children who do not have dysphemia.
• However, if the dysphemia continues into primary school it can become a problem. Primary school children who stutter may withdraw from group activities and become victims of bullying or bullying, affecting her academic performance.

It is important that treatment is age-appropriate of the child and her awareness of the problem, derived from it.

First, a evaluation to contextualize the problem:

• How long has it been since the child began to stutter
• Age of onset of the problem
• Changes in gravity
• Number of times you stutter in a simple speech
• Identification of environmental, linguistic and psychological factors that may contribute to the problem

After that initial evaluation, different therapies:

Indirect therapy

This therapy is suitable for preschool children. Indirect therapy is a widely used method of treating stuttering and is primarily developed by parents. The objective is to provide resources to parents so that they can facilitate their child's communication to be more fluid, using a series of strategies. These strategies vary depending on the case, since the factors involved in dysphemia are unique and characteristic in each situation. Generally, parents videotape interactions with their child at home and, from there, appropriate strategies are worked on and the necessary feedback is provided.

Direct therapy

Therapy focuses on changing the child's speech to facilitate fluency. Direct treatment may include techniques such as speech modification and strategies that reduce stuttering, physical stress, and other secondary behaviors.

Operant techniques

These techniques are based on the principles of conditioning and operant procedures, use the contingency of response to reinforce the moments of fluent speech of the child and gradually decrease the moments of stuttering, by means of correction.

These are some advices that can help your child:

• Do not demand to speak well and correctly all the time. It is important that talking is something fun and relaxed for him.
• Take advantage of family meals to talk. Avoid distractions like television.
• Avoid corrections such as "take a deep breath", "take some time." Even though these comments are well-intentioned, they can make your child more aware of his problem and affect his self-esteem.
• Prevent your child from continuing to speak or read when they are uncomfortable or when stuttering increases. At these times it is important to encourage him to do activities that do not require talking.
• Don't tell your child to think before speaking
• It is important that the house is a quiet environment so that your child feels comfortable
• Keep the eye contact with your child when he is stuttering. Avoid looking away or showing signs of disappointment.
• Speak slowly. This will take a while, but it will help improve your child's fluency in speech. Since a fast speed favors stuttering.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Childhood dysphemia: causes and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Learning disorders.