Why children stutter
When a child starts to develop a stutter it comes as a shock to
everyone involved and can be a very upsetting and stressful time
for both the parents and for the child.
I myself developed a stutter at the age of four or five. My
mother had left work to look after me when I was born and I
started to talk as normal. Everything was fine until I started
school. My mother who now had more time on her hands decided to
re-start work and I would now be going to a friend of the
familys after school. This friend was called Jean and she had a
son my age called Graham. On the first day I spent at her house
everything was going well until Jean called us in for our
evening meal. Meal times at my own house were a very relaxed
affair, we were able to eat our food wherever we wanted to in
the house.
At Jean's house they ate in a dining room around a dining table.
There were a lot of people around the table who I did not know
very well and eating in front of them all itself made me feel
quite uncomfortable. During the meal people were asking me
various questions and for whatever reason, I found it difficut
to answer and started to stutter. This was the first day of my
life as a person who has a stutter.
My parents a few months later took me to speech therapy, the
speech therapist advised them that most children will grow out
of their stutter. I continued unfortunately to stutter until I
was twenty two. At this stage I decided I had had enough and
that it was time to overcome the stutter.
Stephen Hill
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