«Early intervention can break the negative spiral»

Parents worry when their child stutters. Wolfgang G. Braun on the «online fluency compass»for parents and professionals.

Mr Braun, who would you recommend completing your questionnaire?

The Fluency Compass is primarily aimed at parents, daycare centre managers or playgroup leaders who are concerned about their children's speech. For example, when children repeat words or parts of words or words get stuck completely. The questionnaire is designed to help concerned parents quickly and easily decide whether a specialist should be called in. An algorithm evaluates the questionnaire and recommends that parents or professionals wait and see or take the child to a paediatrician or speech therapist.

Wolfgang G. Braun, lecturer and head of the stuttering counselling centre at the Intercantonal University for Special Needs Education (Image: HfH University).
Wolfgang G. Braun, lecturer and head of the stuttering counselling centre at the Intercantonal University for Special Needs Education (Image: HfH University).

The questionnaire focuses on children between the ages of two and six. Why so early?

Experts consider early recognition of stuttering to be very important. On the one hand, children who stammer very quickly realise that they speak «differently» and develop their own strategies that are not conducive to a normal flow of speech. They often become insecure and inhibited. On the other hand, parents are also very insecure. Early intervention can break the negative spiral. Affected families are taught a relaxed way of dealing with stuttering and parents are strengthened in their communication with the child: «What you say is important, and if it comes out stuttering, it's important too.»

What should parents do if the result of the questionnaire is a recommendation to see a paediatrician or speech therapist?

The programme can make a very differentiated assessment of when a child can wait and see or when, for example, the tension accompanying the stuttering becomes so great that it makes sense to seek professional advice. However, this does not mean that therapy will necessarily follow an initial assessment by a doctor or speech therapist. It may very well be that you wait even then. In some cases, counselling and a few tips on how to deal with stammering in everyday family life can provide important relief for parents and children alike.

Read more about stuttering:

  • «Stuttering does not grow out of control»
    Stuttering is a speech disorder that can no longer be cured from adolescence onwards. This is why the goal of therapy changes in teenage years: young people should learn to deal with stuttering and speech as confidently as possible.
  • «I stammer - so what?»
    Around five per cent of all people stutter in the course of their lives. This can have many causes. At the stuttering camp on Lake Constance, young stutterers learn how to deal with their handicap confidently and improve their speech. A visit to the camp.