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Slow speech in teenager

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  • 07-09-2009 2:35pm
    #1
    badaction
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10 ✭


    My son is a very slow speaker and finds it difficult to say certain words. He is going to speech therapy, his therapist says he is making progress although I cannot see it. If he is excited or copying somebody else he speaks fine but if he gets too much time to think his speech can be very slow. Any board members have similar experience?
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    #2
    Paul4As
    Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭Paul4As


    I wouldn't be concerned if his speech was slow!!! Infact some therapists encourage slower speaking as you have more control over your speech!!!
    As long as your son says exactly what he wants to say...that is the most important thing!!! The listener can just wait on him...if they are impatient,well they are not worth talking to in the first place!!!
    As for the difficulty in saying certain words...the more he says those words the easier it will be to get them out!!! As long as he doesn't avoid the words by using substitutes...as in words with a similar meaning!!!
    Give the therapist time to work with him...and don't judge progress by how your son talks...progress with stammering often comes from how the stammerer feels about their speech more so than the frequency of their stammering!!!
    You can have a stammerer who stammers in every sentence, but who is not bothered at all by their speech...yet you can also have a stammerer who stammers maybe only once in the whole day and feels really bad about their speech!!! Stammering is a weird phenomenon!!! :)
    Maybe trying to get the therapist to put your son in to contact with fellow teenage stammerers could help him too!!! The therapist could even try a group therapy session!!!
    If you seriously are not impressed by the therapist...then why not switch therapists!!! I'm sure all therapists work differently...just like doctors, dentists and opticians!!!


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    #3
    badaction
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10 ✭badaction


    Thanks Paul. You are probably right in that his problem will not be fixed overnight. There is no magic cure.


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    #4
    Paul4As
    Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭Paul4As


    Badaction...make an effort to talk to your son about his speech!!! Ask him how therapy went...what technique or tools the therapist is doing with him...ask him does he wanna practise them with you!!!
    At the same time don't make a big issue over the therapy or his speech with him!!! If he doesn't wanna talk about it after one therapy session then leave it until after the next session!!!
    Never tell him how you have noticed a decline or even improvement in his speech...he will feel like you are "marking" him on his talking!!!
    All will work out for him and you...just be positive!!! :)


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