HYPNOTHERAPY FOR CHILDREN WHO STUTTER:
NICCOLOUS THOMSON
Nothing is more heartbreaking than listening to any one, especially a child, stutter or
slammer. Every person stumbles over his or her words now and then. If it happens to you, you
may be embarrassed yet quickly recover. For people who stutter (PWS) their venal dis-fluency
usually bring fear and anxiety and a lifetime filled with difficulty can affect self-concept,
personality and relationships. Though there is no instant overnight miracle cures for stuttering,
hypnosis, suggestion and repetitive re-patterning have proven to evoke excellent results. Before
you begin hypnosis help, emotional and psychological reactions to help them better cope.
Despite decades of research, there is no clear-cut cause for stuttering. Self-concept refers to how
a person sees him or herself. When someone labels them self a “stutter,” they often take on
negative stereotypes that go with it and their self-image may revolve around their stutter.
Listeners tend to react in a negative ways, which reinforces the idea that stuttering is
unacceptable social behavior. Stuttering affects others and their reactions and feelings about the
stuttering and the stutterer have great impact. If their reaction is nervous and anxious, the person
who stutters picks up on it. And their feelings and attitudes will be projected unto the listener as
well. Parental reaction to stuttering is very important. While some react aby patiently waiting
for the child to finish and act unconcerned, other finish their child’s sentences, tell the child,
“slow down,” or reprimand. These reactions may result from fear or a belief that the child is
stuttering on purpose. Parent may unconsciously hide their stuttering child out of embarrassment
or protect continued stammering inadvertency reinforce stuttering behavior.
Teachers, often avoid difficult words when asking a child who stutters a question and the
child my try to avoid answering by saying, “I don’t know.” The teacher may thus label the child
as “less intelligent” by ignoring or dismissing his dilemma as a problem, or a wart, and hoping it
would disappear.
Another problem that PWS may face is confused self-perception and distortion their body
image. Since stuttering does not show up in a person’s physical characteristics when silent, the
individual can feel normal one moment and dis-fluent and strange the next. The stress of an “I’m
okay-I’m not okay” conflict can add to a negative self-concept. Some try to hid behind their
body, which may cause stuttering to become more severe.
STUTTERING FACTS:
* Stuttering is a fluency disorder that interferes with the forward flow of speech
* What differentiates stutterers from non-stutterers is the frequency and severity of their disfluency and an accompanying feeling of loss of control
* Over three million American stutters
* Stuttering affects four times as many males as females
* People who stutter are as intelligent and well-adjusted as non-stutterers
* People who stutter are self-conscious and often let their problem determine the vocation they
choose.
* 25 percent of ALL children go through a stage of development during which they stutter with
about four percent stuttering for six months or more.
* Stuttering is an increasingly problem for teen dating and social interaction.
* King George VI, Lewis Carroll, Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, Carly Simon, James Earl
Jones, Bob Love, Mel Tillis, John Updike, & Ken Venturi, all stuttered and went on to have
successful lives * A qualified Hypnotherapist can help make significant progress toward fluency
with stutterers of all ages
Stuttering is not a personality disorder and there is not a defined stuttering personality but
an impaired self-image can evoke personality charges. Thee are some traits manly stutterers
share. They tend to be less outgoing and may avoid talking situations for fear of getting laughed
at or misunderstood. They may be unwilling to openly express anger, even with just cause, for
fear of more rejection. Many react with depression and grief. They may feel that they continue
to stutter because of something that they did or did not do and feel guilty. Guilt may also stem
from a feeling that they are taking up the listener’s time. Anxiety from other’s reactions when
they stutter is another characteristic that many PWS share, and finally many PWS feel of loss of
control. Their focus of control of themselves.
STUTTERING MYTHS, REMEDIES AND FACTS
"Stuttering is caused by..." Myths From Around The World
* Mother eating improper foods when breast- feeding.
* Allowing an infant to look in the mirror.
* Tickling the child too much.
* Cutting the child's hair before he/she said his/her first words.
* The mother seeing a snake during pregnancy.
* The mother dropping a baby.
* The child being scared as a baby.
* The child being bitten by a dog.
* The work of the devil.
* Baby left out in the rain
* Failure to inform ancestors of imminent childbirth
* Emotional Trauma
* Karma
* Child has a short tongue
Folk Remedies: Many give advise like "slow down," 'think carefully before you speak,"
"take your time," can actually make the person who stutters feel as if they are responsible for
their stuttering and in fact, can make things worse. A client I worked with shared with me: "I was
told by many people, including a speech therapist in junior high, to talk with a penny under my
tongue. About 50 cents and lots of laxatives later I decided I'd rather stutter! "
Don Mower tells this tale. . . "To eliminate a stutter. a child growing up in Mazatlan.
Mexico was made to take a 20.' long piece of string in his mouth that was attached to a small
pebble and bring the pebble to his mouth using only his lips to gather the string!"
Here Are Some Other Myths:
* The child can control stuttering.
* Don't not to move your feet when talking
* Hit the child in the mouth with a dish towel
* Have the child hold nutmeg under their tongue
* Medication
* Apply ointment on throat
* Prayer/Priest * Stand in front of the mirror and speak to yourself
* Eat a fruit that has been pecked by a bird
* Correct Your Posture
HYPNOSIS SCRIPT FOR STUTTERING CHILDREN: Children are very easy
subjects to work with for any Hypnotherapist and yes they do accept suggestions! They are great
candidates or the power of suggestion as they have ben conditioned for accepting them from
parents and teachers on a daily basis. The trick to working with children is to understand that
they do not stay in trance very long as an adult. Therefore, rapid induction’s work very well if
done right; there is no grabbing and jerking of rams needed to induce a trance in a child.
Before working with the child it is a good idea to meet with the parents to learn their
concerns and expectations. Listen to any suggestions for the child. What needs does the child
have? Then take the child into your hypnotherapy office. The script works very well!
The Eye Of The President Induction: A unique and fun method of inducing trance that
is effective for any child, gets them involved in the process, and employs the rapid induction of
“What I say this” or “When you do this” then you will be hypnotized.
“Sit comfortably in this chair with one hand on the arm of the chair and other with a
quarter placed between your thumb and forefinger. (Have the child extend their arm) Look right
into the eye of the president as one are is relaxed on the arm of the chair and the other is
extended hold the quarter, with your eye of the president. Between your thumb and forefinger.
(Have the child extend their arm) Look right into the eye of the president as one arm is relaxed
on the arm of the chair and the other is extended holding the quarter. With our eyes staring at the
eye of the president.
(Child's name) We’ll play a game using the eye of the president on the quarter you are
looking at and even though soon your eyes will begin to water and you may want to close your
eyes, do not let them close. (Child’s name) until I say it is OK to do so. If your eyes stray or
move always from the eye of the president, just take them right back to the eye of the president,
just take them right back to the eye of the president. Now (Child’s name) breathe in deep and
hold the breath.
Now exhale slowly keeping your eyes on the eye of the president. Take another deep
breathe in and hold the breath, and as you exhale, as slow as you can you will notice your arm is
getting heavy and you eyes fell sleepy, you can feel yourself blinking very fast. You’re doing
great (Child names), so inhale agin and hold the breath, and as you exhale slowly your arm is
moving down. Your eyes are closing and the more you see your arm moving down, the more
sleepy you feel. How tired your arm is, so rest the other arm now, and sleep. Close your eyes
and sleep, SLEEP. Breath the deep breath’s, but slowly. Deep relaxing sleep now.” (Durbin:
Some times the word “sleep” can have a negative effect on children. Some have had a pet which
was put to sleep and so “sleep” would be negative for them.) Hypnosis is produced.
Suggestions To Stop Stuttering: Now what suggestions do you give the child who
stutters or stammers? Well you will notice it is not a two-page script, a child does not need it in
order to get results. “I know for a while (Child’s name) that you have had some trouble saying a
few words and that there are other words you say perfectly, and I know how you must feel when
those words do not come out right, so I am going to help you to speak perfectly. Is that okay
with you? (Wait for approval)
Great, then listen closely to me and you will see you will be able to speak perfectly in just
a few minutes, and I know you must be excited, so here we go... (pause... wait for anticipation to
build in the child...)
The chalkboard on the right is filled with all the words that seem to be jumbled, those are
the words you say perfectly, so we do not want to bother the ones on the left. What we want to
do is to move the words you USE-to have trouble with on the right, and move them to the left.
After we move one word, we will test it to make sure it went in the right place on the left,
understand everything so far? (Again... wait for a nod, or a child might say “yes”, then proceed)
Okay, think of a word that you have trouble saying that you see on the right...Do you see
it? (Wait for a yes.) Let’s move the word to the board on the left now...good...is it at the right
spot? (Wait for a response) Great...now say the word and yo will notice you will not stutter, or
have problem with the word again. Cool huh? Let’s do another word... (Do a few more words,
having them say the words and then proceed)
Good, now over the next few days (Child’s name) you’ll practice any other words we
may have not noticed before so if find that there is a word that is hard to say... close your eyes
and move it to the left board, and it will never bother you again, you will be able to say it
anytime you want with no problems. And in school you will feel so proud to be able to speak
with others with no problems at all, in fact you will even find you will be a better student
because of how well you speak. (This last suggestions has nothing to do with intellect, it has to
do with confidence...now...do a simple wake up procedure...) At the count three open your eyes,
and notice how big your smile get with each count...one.. It is getting bigger... two... big smile...
and three open your eyes, what a great smile...”