Do you think your child has certain difficulties in speaking? Do you have trouble joining the syllables, babbles too much? These may be some signs that we should not overlook, neither we as parents, nor pediatricians. Because we could face a language disorder like stuttering, very common in pediatric age.
Stuttering is defined as a speech rhythm disorder characterized by frequent repetitions or prolongations of sounds, syllables or words and a campaign has been launched so that children with this problem are not alone: "Do not leave him alone" is a campaign for the early detection of stuttering, aimed at pediatricians.
Because the "is normal", "nothing happens" or "it will happen" are expressions that sometimes tell us other parents, the neighbor of the fifth or anyone who starts to give "wise" advice without asking; but sometimes a doctor could also let the problem pass and they are precisely the ones most qualified to make a diagnosis and initiate, where appropriate, the appropriate intervention.
Stuttering or dysphemia is one of the speech alterations that still raises questions, but it is clear that a person with this problem is not good to be told that it will happen or, worse, who does not know how to speak, who babbles baby ... Both professionals and the child's environment have to know what is the best way to deal with stuttering.
Stuttering arises especially in childhood (after 18 months) and 5% of children have dysfluences at some time, and can be prolonged and aggravated during adulthood.
According to the Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics, children with disabilities are the ones who suffer most from the consequences of a society that does not value differences and from professionals who are not just aware of the importance of early detection of childhood dysfluences.
In this way, although it is not possible to prevent a child from starting with a dislocating speech, it is possible to ensure that these dysfluences are not chronicled by becoming stuttering.
That is why it is so important to be aware of the first signs, because the best time for intervention will always be as soon as possible. And this is when they have not yet appeared "secondary behaviors" that are a manifestation of the child's suffering, such as crutches, strength, avoidance, circumlocutions, anxiety ...
Remember that Children between two and six years are aware of their difficulty speakingTherefore, these secondary behaviors may appear, so it is recommended to refer the child immediately to a professional who is a stuttering specialist to provide strategies and determine the best treatment.
We can download the document that includes the campaign information, in pdf., From the Family and Health website. This is a pamphlet aimed at pediatricians but informative, so any parent who has doubts about the difficulties of his child's speech will find good information. The campaign has been promoted by the Spanish Stuttering Foundation.
Above all, doctors and no, we must know that it is important to detect stuttering in time and not leave children alone who may have this speech difficulty alone, with suffering that could be avoided.
