Teaching stutterers

[peanut]

Has anyone had this experience? I have someone wanting to learn English who stutters. He stutters in his native tongue too...but he claims if he practices enough he gets over it. Is this true? or have I misunderstood him?

Any ideas for games and fun things I can do every day with him or suggest to him? He's older...in his 30s...but has the spelling level of about a 5 or 6 year old. Good with 3 letter words...so-so with 4 letter words.

Thanks!

[Debbie-cat]

He is tellng you the truth peanut. Stutters, with practice can control their stuttering. Try some breathing techniques with him when he begins to stutter. He needs to calm himself (a deep breath) when the stuttering starts. Look online for other ideas - there is alot of great sites out there.

As far as games - try the rhyming technique.
Start with cat, rat, mat, hat, fat, bat, pat, sat. You get the idea. Start with 3 letter words then progress to 4 letter words. It will help him to recognize patterns in spelling.

Good luck and I am sure you will get many more ideas from others.

Oh one other thing you could try for the stuttering. Some stutters need a sponge type ball or a stress ball if they squeeze the ball while speaking or when the stuttering begins, it sometimes help them to atop the stuttering as they unconciously are concentrating on something else.

[zakity]

I wonder if sequential spelling would help him any at all. It is a spelling program for kids with learning issues. It starts with a root word and adds onto it. It might expand his spelling/vocabulary quickly.

[2ndGenGranola]

Unless he has some nerve issues in the brain, he will be able to sing the speech. Singing also has the good stops and starts needed. If he is willing, I'd go that route. As he gets fluent, he could then slowly work his singing to speech. He will end up with a gorgeous speaking voice.

[peanut]

Thanks everyone! I was wondering if "Vocabulary from Classical Roots" might work. But I think the vocabulary is way too advanced. He needs to start with one of those little Golden activity books we had as kids! Thanks for the tip off to Sequential Spelling. I just downloaded their sample lessons.

I'll talk to him about the singing for sure...he used to be a professional drummer in Korea, so singing might not be much of a stretch.

So the key is to calm him down. OK. Can do that. I did notice he is worse around my husband than me. He sees me at church every week and knows me better.

thanks again everyone!

[peanut]

Just to let you know...I did a catolog search on the library's website and have ordered a lot of books/videos/dvds on stuttering and overcoming it. Should be an interesting week as these come in!

Also went to the local teacher's store and had a chat with the lady running it. She gave me some good ideas too.

[mommy4ever]

I was going to suggest singing too. I have a cousin who stutters horribly. He controls it through a singsong voice. Now at 52, he has it down to be barely noticeable. In fact unless you know him you would just think him expressive. He started out by learning songs. And his confidence went up when he realized that he didn't stutter when singing. He is by NO means a singer..lol... eeeeek. But, over time it evolved into just melodic speech. In French it doesn't matter, we tend to speak that way. In English it is different, but he's come so far.

[peanut]

I asked him about singing the other day and he says he's really bad at it. But I might push the issue.

He said he had no intervention in Korea for his stuttering. He knows if he slows down he does better. He hadn't heard about squeezing a ball before. But he seems excited to be coming here for 4 weeks to learn more English. I am going to have to make him talk though. He's had 30 odd years of being quiet, trying to avoid drawing attention to himself. It's going to be difficult getting him to open up...especially in a foreign language.

[Jaccord]

Here are some things you can do to ensure that the stutterer in your classroom gets the most out of your class:

Don't tell your student to "slow down" or "relax" - that just makes it worse.

Don't finish words for the child, or talk on his or her behalf. At best, speak in an unhurried way, and pause frequently. Give a few seconds after the child finishes speaking before you start to speak. By you having slower speech, it'll be much more effective than criticizing or the dreaded "slow down" or "relax".

Have all of the kids in your classroom take turns listening and talking. All of the children, not just the children who stutter (but especially them), find it a lot easier to talk when there aren't many interruptions and they know they have your full attention.

Know that stuttering has zero impact on intelligence. Don't expect any less from your stuttering students than the others, it's only a detriment to them.

Make sure your student knows that you're listening to what he's saying - not how it's delivered. Use your facial expressions and your body language to convey that the content is the only thing you're concerned about.

Feel free to ask your student if there are any needed accommodations. Obviously you'll want to respect their needs, but you also want to make sure that you're not enabling him or her.

Don't make stuttering anything to be upset about, and make it seem just like any other matter.

If possible, reduce the questions that you ask your student, and instead, simply comment on what they have just said.

[peanut]

Thanks Jaccord. A few of those are definitely counterintuitive in this situation. I'll consider them, try them, and talk to him about them...to see what works best for him.

[lparker]

This is a little off-the-wall for most people, but I've read that didjeridu playing will relax and help control breath. Since he is a drummer, he might relate to that because it's a rhythm instrument. Google it. I play.