The stutter in childhood

The stuttering, or stammering, is known technically as it is a language disorder that affects about 1 percent of the children.

It is characterized by a change in pace of speech, repetitions or blockages arising. This discontinuity causes a disruption in terms of rhythm and melody of speech. Although we do not know very well the motives, the fact is that boys are more affected than girls, and the ratio is 3 to 1.

Types of stuttering

- The clonic stuttering; is characterized by the repetition of a syllable in the sentence or while uttering it. There is a compulsive repetition of syllables that are stuck (for example, Por-Por-P0r-Portugal).

- A Focus stuttering is accompanied by a stop in speech; preventing the articulation of the word. It seems that it stumbles on the words. Suddenly, the missing word explodes and the phrase is completed - for example: you want to eat, eat, eating an ice cream? The stuttering may be accompanied by motor movements like eye blinking, tics and tremors.

- A lisp; is also disorders that fall into stuttering. The babbling has a thought, so to speak, takes place faster than you can verbalize what causes a clash of words. In Lisp, phrases are imperfect, inconsistent in how we build, but not in its articulation.

When does it starts?

The stuttering tends to occur between 3 and 6 years, but is more frequent at age 5. These ages are in themselves, two critical stages of child development, since it is around 3 years the child begins to use language as a privileged instrument of communication.

The formal thought is consolidated and the need to put into practice. The child tries to communicate verbally, but he makes a mistake with words. These difficulties cause anxiety, which increases when she realizes that her mother is also concerned for that reason.

Sometimes, in the stages of language evolution, there may be some episodes of stuttering, but are transient. This should not be a cause for concern for parents. The situation usually resolves itself and insistence on correcting it is likely to cause a fixation.

Some children even reach to express great fear to speak. Children also tend to repeat whole sentences, which should not be confused with stuttering.

At 6 years, it is time for entering elementary school and there are children who suffer terribly at this time, since they are flooded with feelings of abandonment. Although most families choose to place their children in kindergarten, it is certain that this moment could be a traumatic situation for children who were always with her mother and who suddenly find themselves deprived of it.

The fear of abandonment, the fantasy of having done something wrong and are being punished for it, increase their anxiety to the point that symptoms may arise from stuttering.

Solutions for stammering

There are several ways to approach this problem:

- Speech Therapy - for the language to become fluent.

- Relaxation- so that the subject learns to relax when faced with situations of great anxiety.

- Psychotherapy- alone or in addition to other intervention, psychotherapy appears to be effective. In adolescents, psychotherapy focused on problems specific to the crisis of adolescence can have a very happy this disorder. In children, psychotherapy is also an option to consider in order to free it of its anxieties and conflicts.