Talk Time

A new school year signals new relationships between students and teachers. For teachers, the first weeks of school are centered on understanding individual learning styles, behavior, and educational strengths and needs. As teachers interact with new students, they may realize that a student in the classroom has a fluency disorder. Many teachers report difficulty in knowing how to interact with a child who stutters in the classroom. While the parents of the child can provide individualized ideas, here are some suggestions for teachers to consider. Parents may want to share these tips with their child’s teacher at the onset of the school year.

When the student is experiencing disfluency, DO NOT:

• Tell the student to stop stuttering
• Interrupt the child
• Help the child with the word
• Tell the student to think about what he/she is going to say
• Answer or fill in for the student
• Look concerned or pained
• Appear angry or impatient
• Tell the child to stop and start over
• Suggest avoiding or substituting words
• Express pity

Instead, follow these suggestions when the student is disfluent:

• Try to act the same as you do when the student is fluent
• Remain calm and listen to what the child is saying
• Try to show that you enjoy talking with him/her
• Seem interested in what the student is saying
• If the child seems especially excited or in a hurry, say: “I have time, and I want to hear what you have to say.”
• Use language at an age-appropriate level
• Help all members of the classroom learn to take turns talking and listening without interrupting one another

For more specific recommendations, consult with a speech-language pathologist who specializes in stuttering. A qualified speech-language pathologist can offer tips to the teacher for showing support and handling peer interactions. Additionally, the teacher can learn how to make certain incidents easier in the classroom, such as answering questions in a group, reading aloud to peers, and managing teasing by others. Always keep in mind that children are different, and having a positive attitude is vital to a successful and nurturing student/teacher relationship.