A Little Misguided Speech Therapy Goes a Long Way

 

Most of you who know Ben know that he's always been a little "slow to speak," but always full of great thoughts and ideas.

As Ben's language skills have developed, we have seen him outgrow many mispronuciations. For example, when he was two he called himself "Denjamin" instead of "Benjamin." I always felt a little embarrassed for him when people asked him his name and then couldn't understand him, but my linguistic education led me to believe that he would figure out the correct pronuciation without any intervention. This has definitely been the case as word by word and phrase by phrase, I found that Ben's speech was developing nicely.

A couple of weeks ago, though, I noticed he was adding an extra syllable to the words "because" and "pretend," saying "be-uh-cause" and "pre-uh-tend." I thought this was most likely a phase (just as Janae is currently adding an "a" to the end of words--saying "funny-uh" instead of "funny"--Ben had done this, too, as a toddler).

I'm not sure if it is because Ben is in school now or because I sometimes get tired of "pre-uh-tending" to be one of Thomas's engine friends (I am asked at least 50 times a day to pretend to be one of these characters), but for some reason, I abandoned my usual noninterventive approach and decided I needed to correct Ben's speech. I calmly explained that you say, "pretend . . . not pre-uh-tend." I went over this with Ben several times, having him repeat the correct pronunciation. (I cringe as I read this, picturing myself as a detestable schoolmaster you might find in a Charles Dickens novel.)

As Benjamin was trying to say "pretend," he had to really concentrate and work hard at it. This created a sort of stuttering effect as Ben tried his best not to add the "uh"--over and over again he said, "pre. . . pre. . . pre. . . tend." Most of you know Ben is always really eager to please, so this was right in character--he wanted to be sure to get the word right.

I thought this stuttering would go away by the next time Ben used the word, but no. Now, instead of "pretend" or even "pre-uh-tend," he is saying "pre. . . pre. . . pre. . . tend" every time--even when he talks to Janae.

Even worse, I looked up stuttering in one of my parenting books, and it emphasized the problems that come from parents drawing children's attention to speech characteristics that will correct themselves over time.

I feel horrible about the whole thing--not only have I made Ben more self-conscious about his speech, but I've caused him to develop a stutter. What good is an education in English and linguistics if I can't even apply what I've learned in the most important situations?

I'm finding it difficult not to correct the stutter, but I think this will be the best way to help Ben. I think I'll leave speech therapy to professionals and just work on being a loving mom . . . even if it does mean acting the part of an engine!