A schnauzer, a second-grader and a stutterer walk into a bar.... Haa. You'd rather work with kids, I'd rather work with animals? Some people refuse to work with either!!  https://hawscritterconnection.blogspot.com/2014/10/never-work-with-children-or-animals.html?m=1 It's a funny thing. I stutter way less around people if I'm like "Oh, the dog is here I'm good..." At least if no one laughs at my jokes I can hang out with the dog! Sometimes at work on the phone I really try to envision the person I'm talking to has a dog; I imagine this are holding the phone for the dog and translating. Humor gets me through.  In your experience, kids: they respond to treats and positive reinforcement yes?! You have the secret code.  Authority is a strong word but... In this (hypothetical) situation you are the arbiter of praise and cookies; giver of high fives and STICKERS. You know these Oreos were on sale 2 for $4 and the double stuffs await you at home . You don't need a glittery shooting star sticker: you could put as many totally tubular stickers as you want on your 1999 ECLIPSE. You're the coolest one in the room.  Performance anxiety is the root for me. I do not respond to SLP probably because I was socially thinned-from-the-herd early on and nothing worked then. Nothing could have addressed the social pressure short of taking me out of school right then. I really don't think my stutter would have gotten so bad if I had been able to fully develop emotionally/ in a more supportive environment. Oh well that ship sailed! Boy did it age me watching those fools draw out a book report presentation POORLY. I didn't even get a chance to enjoy how dumb they were at the time because I was too busy worrying (rightly) that my quality A++ information would be translated as less-than that jerk. Sounds like you know how to keep the peace and foster learning. Thanks to you maybe they'll be kinder.  My best job ever ever paid garbage but it was a rescue for very troubled animals. I just worked around them quietly until I was as regular to see as the clock on the wall. Once they weren't terrified and learned sometimes food came from me Pavlov did the rest. For what it's worth I also wouldn't look them like directly in the eye until we were cool cool. It's a lot of pressure when someone looks directly at you before you know them know them! I mean damn what do they expect! Sarcasm! Good post!!