If your son or daughter stutters, today is their day. Every October 22nd the International Stuttering Awareness Day, to support people with this condition. Remember that it is more important listen to the child what he says than how he says it. Confidence is the first step in overcoming stuttering.
We want to give you some specific exercises to work and help stuttering children at home. In another article we already talked about certain habits, and breathing exercises that can help you. You can find them here.
Exercises Stuttering Children Can Do at Home
An exercise that will help the stuttering child to everyone else, and teach him to control his breathing is to do blow up a balloon. At the beginning you can challenge him to inflate it in seven puffs, then in five and at the end in three. You can also do the same with the candles, increasing one each day. Another fun game for children is to do soap bubbles, or move a ball around a table with a straw. All these exercises serve to strengthen the speaking organs.
Sing with him different songs that have different rhythms. Once you can rap and another dare with opera and rock. This diversity of rhythms will help you better manage your breathing. Children who stutter don't usually stutter when they sing, so you can record them so they can hear how well they do. Explain that this is so because singing "manages" better the amount of air that has to expel.
Another way of work the rhythm with stuttering children it is through masking. It is about sending a noise to the child's ear so that he does not hear his own words. You can also lengthen the words, especially the vowels, either in initial, middle or final position.
More games for stuttering kids
You can play try touch the nose with the tongue, that it is still a muscle and must be exercised. A variation is to stick your tongue in and out without touching your lips, and push it as far as you can. This exercise can be repeated up to 20 times. Encourage him to interact with speed, faster or slower.
Other games and exercises that can be practiced with stuttering children is imitate animal soundsThis will help to have greater fluency, and the vocal cords are stimulated. These games not only improve the problem but also make it fun for you.
As a family you can play to finish the sentences. For example, say: the child plays, and that he decides, almost without thinking how to finish it. The important thing is that you do not think about the answer, that it is almost automatic. And each time you have to try to lengthen and increase the complexity of the sentence.
Recommended habits at home to overcome stuttering
When we are at home with the stuttering boy or girl we should encourage a security and trust environment for him. This same environment would be ideal for us to transmit it to the school teachers and our families. It is very important that children have their time to express yourself, that they do not want to run talking. We must not demand speed, or finish their sentences.
As we have commented previously, it is fundamental that stuttering children do not feel belittled. It is very important that we help you decrease anxiety while developing self-confidence, for this we must enhance their other skills. Knowing your strengths will help your child to strive and improve more every day.
Other recommendations that we give you to improve stuttering is that the child sleep and rest 8 hours a day, do not drink stimulating drinks, such as cola, or spicy foods. Watching too many aggressive cartoons or movies tends to create great stress. With all these exercises and games your child will improve little by little, but remember to have a lot of patience and understanding with him or her.