August 25, 2013
Being halting in speech is not fun for anyone. It is frustrating to want to speak, attempt, and not be able to express oneself completely. The act of talking is smooth and effortless for most of us. Wanting to talk and express oneself, and being thwarted in attempts to speak is frustrating and often causes anger, frustration, and wanting to give up or cease communication entirely.
When children or adults are receiving speech and language stimulation that helps them speak, the anger, frustration and desire to give up diminishes and is soon replaced by a keen desire and motivation to speak. The caregiver who knows how to stimulate speech and language and has been doing so each and every day at home provides an easier way to learn how to speak again, and uses many daily activities as opportunities to stimulate language. If done on a consistent basis by the speech language pathologist, parent, or caregiver, a speaking pattern or “habit” may soon develop that is paired with a specific activity. An example of this would be: ”I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, I’m ready for bed, No thank you, Let’s go, etc.”