What Can We Do About Our Little Boy's Stammer?

Question:

Over the past six weeks, our three-year-old son has developed a severe stammer, so bad at times that he is unable to talk at all. He is also asking us why he cannot talk. Is there anything you can recommend to help him - and us? A speech therapy appointment is not available for six to nine months.

Answer:

Stammering is like a tic in the speech. You may have experienced at some point in your life a twitch in your eye or face or a tremor in your fingers. These are involuntary movements in which )'our will and conscious mind have little or no input.

In children, stammering is usually triggered by a stressful event. These little ones are often shy and not very self-confidence. When they speak, they get stuck over certain syllables or words, which they then repeat in quick succession. As time goes by, if nothing is done, the nervousness tends to increase, mainly because they get embarrassed about their difficulty. This makes them stammer more, particularly if others laugh or poke fun.

While you wait for the speech therapy appointment,

I recommend that you try these simple techniques

* Talk to your son and reassure him constantly that he can overcome his difficulty.

* To relieve his tension, massage his neck and spine at bedtime, using Dr Ali's Junior Massage Oil, or two drops of lavender and two drops of geranium essential oils in one tablespoon of sweet almond base oil. Look on my website or in my book The Integrated Health Bible for information about massage.

* Following the massage, lie your son on his back on his bed. Now talk him gently through the following relaxation programme, Keep your voice low and almost monotonous but make sure it is purposeful. This is the gist of what you say; change the words to suit you and your boy...

1 Close your eyes and let your neck, back, arms and legs feel like cotton wool.

2 Imagine that the whole of your body is so soft and light that it can float up in the air and be like a bird or a cloud.

3 Breathe in through your nose - one, two, three. Gently breathe out - one, two, three. (Repeat this for two to three minutes.)

4 Feel your body floating. Feel your head, as light as a feather; your eyes, cheeks and neck as soft as ice cream.

5 Breathe in again - one, two, three - and feel the cool air going through your nose and into your lungs. Breathe out and feel how warm the air is as it goes out through your nose. (Repeat this three times.)

6 Now count up to ten in your mind. Tell me when you've finished.

7 Now sing 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' in your mind. Now another nursery rhyme. (Choose his favourites.)

8 You see, you can sing without any problem' it's so easy for you.

Go through this relaxation programme with him every night for a month.

* Once a day, play his favourite song on a tape or CD player and ask him to sing along, karaoke style. Start him off singing to himself in his room, then to you, and then to other people he loves and trusts.

* Once a day, get him to suck an ice cube until his tongue goes numb, then ask him to repeat a few lines from a nursery rhyme or his favourite story. This will force him to make more effort to form the words correctly.

* It is important that he eats healthily - a weak body leads to a weak mind. Keep him away from junk food, such as ice cream, canned drinks, burgers, and also Marmite, bread, cakes, pies and pizza, which all contain yeast (this disturbs the digestion).Try instead soda bread, crisp bread and rice cakes. Give him manuka honey on crisp bread; try mixing it also with organic cottage cheese.

* Don't let him drink citrus juices (eg, orange, grapefruit or pineapple), which affect the throat. Ensure he drinks freshly juiced carrots and apples, and eats raw vegetables and salads- and plenty of non-citrus fruits.

* Make him chicken broth. Boil a poussin (baby chicken), jointed and the bones crushed with a rolling pin, in three to four pints of water with garlic, ginger, bay leaves and a cinnamon stick for 75 to 90 minutes. The stock has all the minerals and proteins that he needs.

* Also give him Biocare Vitasorb Multivitamins : six drops daily.

* Try cranial osteopathy, or acupuncture if he is not worried by the needles.

 

About the Author

I have obtained MD in General Medicine with Honours in 1980 and joined The Central Institute of Advanced Medical Studies in Moscow for post graduation in Acupuncture. I have completed diploma courses in Acupuncture, Anesthesia, Iridology, Hypnotherapy and Clinical Fasting. Practicing as Integrated Medicine expert.

Visit my health shop - http//www.drmalishop.com

121 Crawford Street, London, W1U 6BE

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