How can I help my 6 year old daughter with her severe stutter?
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How can I help my 6 year old daughter with her severe stutter? Looking for some insight, I’ve pretty much exhausted google and speech therapists at this point, and my heart is aching for my sweet girl. My daughter has had “bumpy speech” (what we like to call her stutter) since she was 3. Some weeks it’s worse than others, sometimes she’ll go days without anything but a couple stammers. We never rush her when she speaks, and we’re very open about talking about her bumpy speech and listen to her when she vents about it, but lately it’s been getting much worse and I want to know if there’s something else I can do to help and support her. She started kindergarten this year, and the stress in the beginning definitely caused her bumpy speech to be more prominent, but as she got more comfortable and made friends it leveled off. Now I’ve just had a baby a month ago, and it’s been about 3 weeks of her speech being heart wrenchingly difficult. It seems almost every 3rd word she is struggling so hard getting it out—she’s hyperventilating, clenching her fists, and contorting her face, and by the end of the day she’s so tired and frustrated she just cries in my arms. I know the new baby must have spurred the reaction, but we’ve really made every effort to keep her routine moderately the same, she’s never been woken up in the night, and she’s truly so excited about being a big sister there’s no inclination of jealousy. I’m truly at a loss. I want so badly to help relieve her stress but I also don’t want her to think her bumpy speech is bothersome to me or makes her any less loved. What is something your parents/relatives/friends/teachers/therapists did (or something you wish they did) as a child that helped you? Maybe something you figured out on your own? I’m all ears! Thank you so much 🙏