“Those troubled by the way they speak”: what help can the counsellor offer?

Abstract

Speech defects could be very embarrassing to some individuals. For instance, those who stutter or often find it very difficult to speak pleasantly could be avoiding occasions or situations that would require they speak. This is because they would not want to embarrass themselves or others by their defective speech. Such individual might consequently be engaging themselves in self-pity or have low self-esteem. They will always seek the service of counsellors to help them out of their speech problems. This paper highlights some speech defects that usually cause some behavioural problems for individual having them. More importantly, the paper discusses some therapeutic measures which counsellors could consider while dealing with speech defective clients.

The Nigerian Journal of Guidance and Counselling Vol. 9(1) 2004: 85-93