How do you communicate when talking is difficult?

We all struggle to say what mean at times. People who stutter or experience other speech differences may not only have difficulties communicating, but when those difficulties are met with impatience, they may feel like their thoughts and feelings don’t matter. We talk about this in our latest episode, “Listening to people with speech differences.” Download wherever you get your podcasts!

Episode summary: Children who stutter have historically been met with impatience, derision or disregard when they can’t quickly express their thoughts and emotions. That’s the case for Maggie, the protagonist of C.C. Harrington’s book WILDOAK, which urges us to listen to and support those with communication challenges. Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Heather Clark joins us to share her clinical expertise as a speech language pathologist.

In this episode, Dr. Millstine and her guests discuss:

• Communication as health. It might seem strange to talk about stuttering on a health podcast. But stutter is not only  an educational, relational and emotional issue, it can affect quality of life and wellbeing.
• How to talk with someone who stutters. We’ve got practical tips to help people with a stutter communicate - and let them know that their thoughts and feelings matter.

Questions for discussion:

• Sometimes certain topics are just too hard to talk about - even for those without speech difficulties. But there are many other ways to communicate thoughts and feelings, like art, song, poetry, journaling or even a companionable silence with a loved one. What are some of your favorite non-verbal ways to communicate?
• Do you have a communication difficulty, or have you had one in the past? What did other people do that helped?

Share your thoughts, questions and opinions below!