Ask Del, Transitions, Inc. Hypnosis Del Morrill Seattle Washington WA

I am writing to you because I know you deal with children quite a bit. I have a client who will soon be 12. Her fluency comes and goes and she has had speech therapy when she was around 5 yrs old for about a year. Her stuttering is more like stammering in the beginning of words and she appears to handle it on the outside. She does get frustrated with it and I believe with herself. It gets worse when she is having rough emotional times. It is as if her thoughts are faster than her speech. She is doing theatre now and is great at it enjoys it and doesn't have a fluency problem when acting. Any suggestions?

Personally, I feel the problem will solve itself as she gets older. You're probably right about it having to do with her thought processes being faster than she can articulate, and as one gets more vocabulary and has been speaking even longer, it gets easier for the two to "catch up."

Currently, she's doing the best possible thing she can do for the stammering (different from actual stuttering) - be in theatre work. Obviously, acting slows her mind down to match how she must articulate for the stage. Also, when actors are before an audience they become faceless (the reason for masks in early Greek and other similar theatres).

When you talk before someone else or a group that "facelessness" no longer exists, and, instead, you face people who might not approve of what you say or think. The actor has a script written by someone else, so the author is at fault if someone doesn't like what's said.

I don't have a particular script for kids who stammer, but I do have some suggestions that I had jotted down in preparation for a client who soon will be coming to me for stuttering.

Sometimes people can be afraid to talk due to stammering or stuttering. You’re going to find that, as you grow, you’ll be able to talk more easily.

You’ll get used to more words, and bigger words, and you’ll become more comfortable.

You’ll be amazed at how clearly you’re able to talk, how easily the words come when you want theme to come without any stammering or stuttering.

You’ll keep becoming more and more at ease with other people, so that’ it’s easier and easier to speak freely and clearly.