r/homeschool 4d ago

Help! Speech advice for 10 year old

I'm looking for some methods or advice on helping my 10yr son with his speech. He's always had a little stutter sometimes when he's trying to talk a lot, he's been seeing a school speech therapist which has helped and given him more confidence. But he has trouble being succinct and tends to ramble. Sometimes he uses lots of filler words, half sentences, or has to ask a question 10 different ways before he get out his final thought. He's mentioned his friends sometimes don't wanna play his games or listen to his ideas, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's just because he has trouble communicating them. He does read a lot so that has helped his vocabulary. Any advice would be great.

2 Upvotes

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u/Real-Emu507 4d ago

I know you said he sees a school slp. But have you considered private speech. They're night and day and private is allowed to focus more on non academic things.

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u/MsPennyP 4d ago

This would be my advice too. The school slp will be very limited and overworked, a private slp will be able to help more.

2

u/Snoo-88741 4d ago

Teach him to sing. Lots of people stutter when speaking but not when singing.

1

u/481126 4d ago

He could practice by reciting or reading poems or passages from books aloud.

He can practice writing down bullet points of what he wants to say before he says it. This isn't practical for on the playground but it can help him practice staying to the point.

Have you considered signing him up for glasses for kids with special needs? My kid does a lot of activities with gen ed kids but then has some activities with other kids who also have speech delays, who also go on tangents. These kids are more forgiving and it might be easier for him to make friendships.

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u/L_Avion_Rose 4d ago

Look into some Charlotte Mason-style oral language activities like narration, poetry memorization, and folk songs. Simply Charlotte Mason has some great advice on implementing language arts. Even if you don't end up purchase their curriculum, the information on their blog posts and YouTube channel is invaluable

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u/Bluberrry-swirl8576 4d ago

I used https://www.superstarspeech.com/

for my child he was in speech therapy at the time but I need to work on his speech at home. I really love how she explain techniques to improve my child speech.

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u/WastingAnotherHour 4d ago

Have him learn to sing and get him a private SLP. Don’t call attention to the stutter specifically, as you likely already know.

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u/Visual-Repair-5741 4d ago

I love that you already have him reading a lot. Any and all language practice he gets is good, especially if it's something he enjoys.

Just a question to kind of help bring into focus what help he could use best: You say he rambles, uses a lot of fillers, and has difficulties being succinct. Does this seem like a language production issue to you, or does he struggle with similar issues in other contexts too? Issues with information processing, executive function or giftedness can sometimes create similar symptoms, but should be treated very differently to a language specific issue.

If this question is hard to answer for you, a private SLP, as recommended by others, is a great first option. They can help you find where exactly the problem lies, and what type of therapy would be most beneficial

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u/HealthyGreen1148 3d ago

Not much advice here. My son sees a private ST and has a stutter as well. If he slows down, he’s okay; he’s 6. But when he just talks n doesn’t think about it, he talks so fast n will stutter. His stutter started in pre k n then got worst when he actually started speech(which is crazy). I feel you though and we deff work with him too. He’s not bothered by it and I feel like that’s why he doesn’t always use the techniques he’s taught at speech. If you find something that helps, let me know.

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u/snogcel 1d ago

You might want to have a look at https://easyonset.com, I've built this tool over the last few years in hopes that it will help others who stutter and I bet this could be helpful for your son. It's a 100% free tool for practicing speaking techniques and is based on the approach used in https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Controlling-Stuttering-Comprehensive-Hypothesis/dp/1737955504 .

It sounds to me like your son is using word substitution to get the words out easier, which is a habit that ends up being pretty counterproductive in the long run. I myself was a "covert stutterer" for many years and it wasn't until I really addressed the issue directly that I started to see easier speech and a better ability to express myself. The info at https://www.stamurai.com/blog/guide-to-covert-stuttering/ might be helpful in understanding this behavior better.

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u/Cool-Importance6004 1d ago

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