This is a threaded discussion page for the International Stuttering Awareness Day Online Conference paper, Some suggestions for teachers of children who stammer by Cherry Hughes (United Kingdom). Hello, Cherry From: Lou Heite Date: 10/2/98 Time: 7:29:38 AM Remote Name: 155.247.229.157 Comments Hi there! Your article is a very useful synopsis of recommendations for teachers. As you know, the ways teachers can affect the progress of their pupils who stutter is deeply interesting to me. I am going to pass the address along to some people who probably will be interested. I would like to know how BSA's educational program for teachers is progressing. Have you been able to hold any weekend sessions yet? If so, how have they been recieved? Looking forward to hearing from you Lou Heite Re: Hello, Cherry From: Cherry Hughes Date: 10/19/98 Time: 10:25:33 AM Remote Name: 158.152.141.117 Comments Hi Lou, I have replied twice to you, but they are not getting through, so this goes via the BSA Office in London. My courses are proving to be of particular interest to the Early Years staff, probably because of the explosion in provision of late. Secondary teachers are less keen, probably a combination of pressures and lack of awareness. The most fertile area however, is turning out to be the universities, although a course to their teacher trainees takes ages to set up because they wish to talk(interview) with me, and discuss strategies. Saturday courses are not likely to be possible, although my evidence on this is from other organisations. I agree with your remarks to Chuck Goldman, stammering does exhibit itself and we do need to give teachers special strategies to support the student without labelling or embarrassing the student. I do think that student involvement should go as far as is possible, and recently I tested this with a teacher who has found that the open discussion with the student, who was 15, really broke down barriers and eased the climate of the classroom , and one hopes the school. Best Wishes, Cherry teacher suggestions From: chuck goldmanÊÊÊ chuckig@aol.com Date: 10/3/98 Time: 12:57:01 PM Remote Name: 152.163.213.203 Comments You've provided a useful summary for the teacher to follow in regard to much in-class activity that takes place. A lot of the suggestions that you make is and/or should be commonly practiced by concerned teachers and much of it may apply to making oral demands on any child. The problem for me is that all of these suggestions imply that that there is some sort of allowance or special behavior that the teacher is engaged in on behalf of the stutterer. An astute child might pick this up with catasatrophic results. Where possible, might it not be an alternative approach to talk directly to the child about the fear of classroom speaking demands in tandem with the school clinician?" Why can't a more direct approach such as team teaching with the school clinician a lesson on "speech disorders", be instituted?" In sum, any class lesson that stresses the fragility of speech, the normalcy of disfluencies, and the role of listener reactions may help in the desensitization of the stutterer and the sensitizing of the class to the various frailties we all encounter in the communication process. Is it your experience that many school based clinicians are fearful of exacerbating stuttering in children and therefore choose not to acquire skills or attempt to treat children in school? Is it also in your experience that the difficulty in engaging parental participation directly in the process leads to discouraging results? Re: teacher suggestions From: LH Date: 10/4/98 Time: 8:57:11 AM Remote Name: 155.247.228.166 Comments Chuck, one of the big problems with any attempts to deal with fluency, or the lack of it, in the classroom is that there is virtually no research that actually examines the interaction between common classroom practices and a child's progress in managing his or her speech. Moreover, schools vary in how they view their responsibilities and the way they do or do not encourage cooperation among faculty members, special education specialists of all sorts, and individual students and their families. Surely the best situation is one in which the teacher, therapist, parents, AND CHILD get together fairly regularly and assess what's working and what isn't. However, I've been a teacher and I know very well that what happens all too often is that the teacher and the specialist chat over lunch, maybe; the parents come in for ten minutes on parent's consultation day; and the child will either agree to almost anything in order to try to please the grownups, or will resist almost everything in order to prove that he doesn't have to please anyone. Okay, that is a little exaggerated but not much. There are studies, though, that show that teachers who have had formal training similar to what Cherry has developed are on the whole more positive and realistic about what a child who stutters can be expected to do in the classroom, and will be more likely to choose "stuttering friendly" teaching methods. As far as treating stuttering as if it were something that had to be handled somewhat "differently" in the classroom, well face it: if it were not that way pretty much everywhere, we wouldn't be having this conference. It is a difference. It needn't be a bad difference, but pretending that it is anything else is ignoring a pretty important reality. The kids who stutter know it, their classmates know it, you and I know it from our own experience. I strongly favor doing everything possible to demystify the nature of that difference for the teachers who will form the child's working environment for the first twelve or more years of his life outside the home. Lou H. Re: teacher suggestions From: Cherry Hughes Date: 10/19/98 Time: 10:26:19 AM Remote Name: 158.152.141.117 Comments Hi Chuck, I do agree in the need for student involvement, and also the desensitising of the stammering by interventionist strategies of personal and social education in the classroom. Our problem in the UK is that schools do not have speech and language therapists on site, they are based in clinics and collaborative work beteen teachers and therapists is still in the ealy stages of development. Teachers should by now be very conscious of the need to avoid embarrassment and/or labelling for every child and when using any specific strategy to meet a need should also include other pupils in the same strategy so that there does not appear to be any singling out. I think that teachers do need to be given simple strategies to use and adapt within their own practice, and sadly I think that many teachers have not really thought about oral language , either their own, or that of their students. I feel that respect and acceptance of the varying ways in which people communicate through speech needs to be addressed as having the significance of written language, with a school policy, for example, in operation as a bench mark of good practice. Best Wishes Cherry. Stuttering and children From: Suzanne Arne Date: 10/10/98 Time: 10:53:29 AM Remote Name: 38.28.19.1 Comments I happened to be surfing the web when I found this website. I would like to help a student in my class who stutters. He has gone to a psycholo gist for almost 2 years and doesn't qualify for additional services this year. I would like to help him with his learning difficulty but am at a loss as to techniques I can employ. Any suggestions or books that might help me to help him help himself. He has gotten very little assistance if any up to this point! My e mail address is: rarne@yahoo.com. Thanks ! Re: Stuttering and children From: LH Date: 10/10/98 Time: 6:07:09 PM Remote Name: 155.247.229.208 Comments Dear Suzanne: First, go to the Stuttering Homepage and give yourself a couple days to read it. There is material there that will answer many of your questions. I have been in the same situation that you are in now more than once. Your openness and encouragement can mean a lot to this child, if you can gain his confidence. It may take a while to reach him but the rewards of doing so can be wonderful. Good luck! Lou H. Re: Sttuttering and children From: Cherry Hughes Date: 10/19/98 Time: 10:27:08 AM Remote Name: 158.152.141.117 Comments Hello Suzanne, I think that your concern and support are very important for the student who has now find a safe haven in the school. This will relieve much of the fear of stuttering which adds tremendously to the problem. I agree with Lou Heite that the Stuttering Homepage is a great place to start as all the organisations in the field are listed and you can get materials and video films from them. It might be helpful for you to watch a video with the student and talk with him about how he feels he can best be helped. If he is receiving help from a clinician then I think that you need to discuss with the student an approach to the clinician so that you can all work together, with family as well, if that is appropriate. I am sure that your support and understanding will already be bringing benefits and improving the student's confidence and self esteem. Best Wishes, from Cherry Teacher Conference From: K. Chmela Date: 10/13/98 Time: 10:14:57 PM Remote Name: 205.188.195.57 Comments I work in the USA as a private fluency specialist. I meet with the teachers of all of the children I work with at the start of the school year. One very helpful strategy I have used has been to engage the child's participation in the meeting (when age appropriate). I have the child brainstorm at a previous therapy session ideas related to the following topics: "What I want my teacher to know about stuttering...."What I want my teacher to know about my stuttering.." "What might help me in the classroom." These meetings which include the child have been very successful. The teachers are often amazed at the child'a ability and willingness to communicate some of the information regardiing their speech. I have found that some of my clients (as they moved into the highschool) began writing letters to their teachers independently or meeting with them to let them know what they needed in order to feel comfortable communicating in school. I enjoyed your article. Thank you. Re: Teacher Conference From: Cherry Hughes Date: 10/20/98 Time: 5:47:17 AM Remote Name: 158.152.141.117 Comments I think that the idea of a child talking with the class is an interesting and helpful iidea, but would need first real understanding and consent by the child, and effective collaboration betweeen teacher and therapist. In the UK that collaboration is only at an early stage of development, and most children are seen in a clinic. What age do you feel it to be appropriate ? Do you think it is a situation which most teachers can handle ? I think many would finds if difficult, and it would be important that the school climate was supportive. I think that strategies for personal and social development are now well developed in the UK schools and against that background a confident teacher of PSE should be able to handle that presentation effectively. Thanks for your comments. The idea is certainly helpful and with all the factors in place could work very well. suggestions for teachers From: Steve Grubman-Black sgr7169u@postoffice.uri.edu Date: 10/21/98 Time: 9:25:16 AM Remote Name: 131.128.26.62 Comments Thank you for these suggestions. Currently, I am working with a youngster who stutters; we are in the stabilization phase, and his teacher has some difficulty with her own patience. For me as one who dedicates my work to the specialty of stuttering, I like a strong partnership among the individual who stutters, the family, and the teacher. Last year went well in this regard. This year is more of a challenge. You have written a clear and nonthreatening summary of suggestions, which I will use during our next conference at the school. Steve Teacher Conference From: K.Chmela Date: 10/29/98 Time: 1:02:28 PM Remote Name: 152.163.194.211 Comments In response to your question about having the child talk with the class, the answer is that I only do that activity when the child feels it is something that they want to do. Usually it takes place after much communication with the classroom teacher. Many children have actually asked if I would come to the school and help them teach their class about stuttering. I think in the United States it is more common to discuss problems openly as a way of helping an individual deal with them more effectively. Bill Murphy (Purdue University) has discussed the "classroom sharing" and the handout for that I believe is posted in the Stuttering Homepage. I have had children tell me that it was the best thing they ever did..once they talked about it they didn't worry about "stuttering" or "not stuttering" in the classroom. I would not do it if the child did not want to or if the teacher was uncomfortable with the prospect of it. I have observed it to be a tremendous desensitization activity. I have talked with the classes of students that were in kindergarten on up. Most of the time the teenagers prefer to handle such a thing on their own. I had one client, age 15, who wrote her teachers a letter about her speech problem. She asked them if they would read it to the class and they did. She is much more comfortable this year in school and is even reading aloud and answering questions now. Great communicating with you, Cheryl. K. Chmela