When I was high school age, mother (bless her heart) drove me twice a week from New York to Connecticut to see a specialist in stuttering therapy. She later told me, before my first session this “expert” told her that SHE WAS THE CAUSE OF MY STUTTERING!! So here is more of a stutterer’s story:
An Old Theory of the Cause of Stuttering
The popular theory then (and still held by many speech therapists and pediatricians today) was that stuttering was caused by parents that focused too much on their child’s mistakes when they were learning to talk during pre-school years. This supposedly changed normal speaking kids into confirmed stutters! For decades the profession of speech pathology believed in this theory, although there was no research to back it up. Many, many dear parents, including my mother, felt extremely guilty about what they were told about stuttering.
More stutterer’s story
Since the experts, at that time, thought that this was a PSYCHOLOGICAL problem, my treatment was psychotherapy twice a week for two years. They asked about my dreams a lot and we talked about my life in general. The result was that I became a really well adjusted and happy high school kid, BUT I STILL STUTTERED SEVERELY!
If anyone reading a stutterer’s story, especially parents who have been told that they caused their child’s stuttering in this way, either by a pediatrician – (who will advise parents to ignore the problem until the child is in school) – or by a well-intentioned speech therapist, please know that modern researchers believe that stuttering is a PHYSIOLOGICAL problem. They believe stutters are probably born this way and that parents have nothing to do with the cause. Please tell your mom or dad this if they feel to blame!
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