Does your child stutter?

Mine does but after several years of speech therapy his disfluency is under control.

Speech disorders are among the most frightening because they effect a person's ability to communicate but also how we respond to that person. Stuttering can have an impact on a child's ability to demand and receive a good education. Unfortunately, most budget-conscious school districts only offer speech therapy for severe stuttering. My son falls in the moderate range although I've been able to advocate for a 30-minute session once a week from our school.

I shudder to think of my son in a busy classroom pushed by a harried teacher to collect and articulate his thoughts quickly. I suspect he is judged, i.e. graded, in part on his communication skills, both good and bad.

Among the things I've discovered by having a child who stutters is that there is a strong genetic corrolation. I've found that there are outlets, including camps for kids with disfluency.

Everyone has a burden to bear, to help my son shoulder his I've taught him to refuse to let anyone hurry him when he is talking. I tell him to raise his voice or in other ways reject any attempt to talk over him.

I also remind him that some of the most captivating people in the world stutter, including actor James Earl Jones. Here's a list of some of them.