Developmental Psychology
Help Me Talk
A very emotional video. It hurts me to see how children of different ages have the trouble of speaking and trying to communicate their thoughts across. Many children with stuttering problem can’t interact very well with friend’s family members or have a normal life. For example the three students’ on the video have difficulty in stuttering. It’s sad how Mudiaga has trouble spelling his name. Joanne an 11year old girl has been having trouble stuttering since she was 3, she has been bullied at school and is in a waiting list for speech therapy. Nathan’s stuttering seems to be the worst one. It was heartbroken to view this situation; it made it very hard for him to communicate and sometimes made him cry. Stuttering has been a major part of their life but has helped them grow also as well. Some emotional and social issues that children may face in school can include being scared, in Nathan’s case we see how he is scared in performing for the first time in front of an audience. This is a challenge for him. He can’t socialize normally like other students and it’s hard to memorize the script. He doesn’t have friends; he won’t pick up the phone due to his lack of speech. Another emotional issue is feared in raising their hand in class, I saw how Joanne was in class and had her hands on her face and face down; it might be a sign that she’s feared of raising her hand and speak her answers. It was actually the teacher calling out for attendance, but I’m sure she was waiting for her name to be called and how she was going to respond. I had difficulties understanding her; in my point of view she talks like a 2 year old. It must be hard for her at this age. She is still on the waiting list for speech therapy. It is very helpful that the school she’s attending is collaborating with her in giving her speech therapy. Another emotional feeling is meeting new people, e.g. Mudiaga’s interview. I’m sure he was very nervous to approach someone he has never seen before and being that he has a stutter problem it wasn’t going to be easy for him. Children with this syndrome face many emotions e.g. being hurt, angry, lonely, sad and nervous and many more.
Stuttering can affect a child’s self-esteem in many ways. They feel embarrassed. Each dyfluency cab be a fearful, anxiety filled experienced. A life filled with these difficulties can affect child’s self concepts, personality and personal relationships. Stuttering lowers children self-esteem. Children who stutter may not be as outgoing as they normally would be if they did not stutter. Children who stutter may avoid talking in many situations for fear of getting laughed at or mis understood. They may present themselves shy or withdrawn. They may feel fear of rejection. Children cannot control what their mouths do and no control when and where they are fluent. Self Esteem is how you feel about yourself, according to the psychologist it is better to tell these children try better than you need to be very smart, if by telling them they need to be smarter than it will be difficult for them to accomplish what needs be said. As parents, I think the best option in helping these children with their stuttering problem is going to a speech therapist. Help the child by giving them advice to slowly take a deep breath and not to rush when speaking. Try to look at the good things and praise them, make sure that praise is contingent. Children with stuttering problem have a low self –esteem, try to get that negative attitude out of them and give positive feedback to all the good things they do. Also is very important to take care of this issue early for them. The problem of stuttering begins between the ages of 2 and 5 in most children. If the child has the problem early it is best to take care of it as soon as possible. It affect them in school, social life, some can’t even spell their names. It’s hard for these children, but us as parents need to give them a hand and help them out.