This question, from one of our social media followers brings up a frequent dilemma that many SLPs face as they work with students who stutter.  Too often, people tell children who stutter that they ought to “take a deep breath” in an attempt to control their stuttering. Sometimes, this message comes from well-meaning caregivers, and other times, from ill-informed speech-language pathologists. Interestingly, it’s not always clear whether the advice is designed to help children calm down (relaxation methods often involve breathing changes) or to specifically change the way they breathe in a ..read more

The Emergence of Verbal Diversity™   Before we delve into the concept of "verbal diversity," it's essential to understand the background of stuttering in society. In brief, stuttering has historically been viewed as a flaw, a burden, or something that needed to be "fixed." People who stutter have been subjected to therapies aimed at eliminating their disfluencies. This type of therapy has frequently led to frustration, low self-esteem, and a sense of inadequacy. This approach has not only been ineffective but has also perpetuated a negative stigma around stuttering.   In 2020, STR’s ..read more

Background: This conversation initially began on the SIG4 (ASHA’s Special Interest Group #4 – Fluency and Fluency Disorders) community page. There was an initial question from an SLP about syllable-timed speech, and when we saw Reuben’s response, we knew it would need to be published on our website so SLPs could learn from it and SHARE it with others. He gave us permission to adapt the response for a blog format. We appreciate Reuben’s time and effort in sharing his wonderful insights! Reuben's response: My name is Reuben Schuff, and I am an engineer at Space X. I presently serve as the Consum ..read more

  Guest Blog by Ana Paula G. Mumy, SLPD, CCC-SLP It is disheartening when we hear that school-based SLPs are still being required to base eligibility for services for children who stutter solely (or primarily) on percentages of observable disfluency. As our understanding of the speaker’s experience of stuttering increases via research evidence, patient evidence, and clinical practice, eligibility criteria for receiving stuttering services in the schools must be analyzed and challenged. A Deeper Dive into the Regulations First, we know that the Individuals with Disabilities Education ..read more

In prior blog posts, I have talked about the information that I consider when recommending treatment for a young child who stutters. I have also highlighted the fact that we have choices when it comes to selecting a specific therapy approach and that we want to be sure to individualize our treatment for the needs of each child and family we see. This time, I will discuss some of the factors that help me determine which approach might be most appropriate for a specific child who stutters. To do this, we need to think about the different options that are available for early childhood stuttering ..read more

I often hear people talk about how stuttering is a “low-incidence” disorder, and it makes me nuts! Why? Because according to the research, we should be seeing a lot more people who stutter than we actually are! Put simply, people who stutter are a dramatically underserved population. Here’s why: According to best estimates, the prevlance of stuttering is about 1%. That would mean that there are approximately 3,000,000 people who stutter in the United States alone—and maybe 70,000,000 worldwide! If we take just that 3,000,000 figure and divide that up by the number of practicing speech-language ..read more

Yes, indeed! There is quite a bit of literature (and more coming all the time) about the use of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for people who stutter - not just for anxiety but also for other negative reactions to stuttering. I use the principles of cognitive therapy in my therapy all the time—and, lately, I’ve been integrating more of the principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and mindfulness approaches, as well. Put simply, cognitive therapy approaches help people examine the role that their thoughts play in their daily life experiences. Recognizing thoughts that lead to n ..read more

Prolonged speech is a commonly used treatment approach for adolescents and adults who stutter. Basically, it involves helping people learn to change the way they speak, beginning with very slow speech production (e.g., saying just one syllable per second when reading a passage) and then gradually increasing to a more natural speaking rate. Prolonged speech has been shown to improve fluency for many people who stutter, and it is often held up as the only evidence-based approach for instantiating fluency in those who stutter (even though this isn't actually true). Because of this, people often a ..read more

A lot of people who stutter have difficulty with the phone. In fact, it’s often cited as one of the most challenging situations. Not surprisingly, improving communication on the phone is often a target of speech therapy. Most of the time, this therapy takes the form of helping people who stutter be more fluent on the phone. Indeed, this is important. Thus, clinicians often have clients make phone calls and such while using various fluency techniques. The clients find that after a bit of practice, they can be pretty fluent in the therapy room—even when using the phone. The problem is that they ..read more

Recently, we posted some ideas for preparing for National Stuttering Awareness Week on our Stuttering Therapy Resources Facebook and Instagram pages. We focused on suggestions for communicating with students who stutter and their families in the E-Learning world. Our followers asked if I would share some of the links I used with my own students. So, here are several examples: Platform I am using: Padlet: https://www.Padlet.com For Students (as they are ready): Self Disclosure: https://permissiontostutter.com/self-disclosure-stuttering/ Let Me Finish: A Stuttering Docu ..read more