Treating the Pre-School Child
Clinical and scientific research has confirmed that early treatment is most effective in overcoming the “stuttering syndrome”. Although it is generally accepted that no cure exists, there are several reasons why treatment of stuttering is most successful during the early years of life. First, the brain of a young child is malleable. As we age, the brain and associated structures become more and more rigid. Changes in behavior, such as speech, are more able to become habitual and permanent for the young child as opposed to the adult, whose structures have grown less flexible and are physically, less likely to change. Second, you
ng children strive to be like their parents, including in ways of communication. Preschoolers will imitate their parent’s speech and language patterns. Because of these two facts, the environment and the people in it become key factors to therapeutic success.
Because of this, Ms. Cochrane and her trained staff work directly with you and your child in your home and daycare facilities. Fluency-enhancing techniques are introduced to both parents and child. Th
is approach to therapy empowers parents to implement and reinforce a more effortless way of speaking, thus eradicating stutter-like behaviors and creating a smoother and easier speech sound production for the child.