…or Pizza, Jack and The Beanstalk and Coffee are all like stuttering… I know a lot of adults who stutter have been frustrated by their experiences with speech therapy in their past.  I’ve got some ideas that are a little bit different from what many of us are used to.  These ideas aren’t necessarily new.  They’re based on previous work from Joseph Sheehan and Vivian Sisskin.  A lot of people who stutter will think some of these ideas are a little bit out there (e.g. you have to learn how to stutter before you can stop struggling), but I think it will all make sense once you ..read more

Flexible Rate Demonstration An Iceberg Approach to Stuttering Therapy I’ve decided to take the flexible rate video down.  I know some have found it helpful to see a fluency strategy in action, but it’s not where I’m focusing my work with people who stutter / stutterers.  Very often, when people view demonstrations of “fluency techniques” their focus is on how to use or teach them.  It places a higher value on “fluency” (i.e. not stuttering) in stuttering therapy.  There’s nothing wrong with fluency / not stuttering and I, like most anyone else who stutters, really enjoy and ..read more

I’m a big fan of animated shorts for working with students. The body language and facial expressions are great for addressing non-verbal communication!  The “problems” that they present are engaging and provide a rich backdrop to address many aspects of higher level language skills. The first 30 seconds of this animation is full of therapy activities for older students with goals related to executive functioning, non-verbal communication, making inferences, identifying context clues, identifying problems and providing possible solutions, and social communication. Some ideas of things you ..read more

Learn how you can reduce your anxiety and worry less about your stuttering using this safe and effective approach. What is EFT Tapping? Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) also called “Tapping” or “EFT Tapping” is a safe and gentle method to reduce stress, and increase comfort and confidence. It’s a self-help therapeutic tool that incorporates established counseling components of behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, and exposure therapy (which are commonly used in stuttering therapy) with traditional chinese medicine (e.g. acupressure). There are currently over 100 published papers in peer r ..read more

Please put the cup down… Groups are forming now.  Learn more by filling out the information below. Contact ..read more

Part 2.2 This is actually part 3, of a 3-part series of posts about referring parents who are concerned about In Part 2.1, we looked at some of the warning flags for stuttering and how we can use them to help determine when treatment is recommended.  Here, in Part 2.2, we will look at different types of disfluencies and other characteristics to consider to aid in treatment recommendations. As an SLP, how can I tell if the disfluencies are typical or stuttering? As I mentioned in Part 2.1, I tend to err on the side of caution.  Growing up with stuttering is really hard.  For man ..read more

Q:  How do you help parents distinguish whether their preschooler is stuttering or whether it’s a developmental disfluency? This question came in from a colleague and is one that comes up often.  There are really two questions here. One is from the parent’s perspective, As a parent of a preschool child, when should I consult with an SLP experienced in working with stuttering?, and the second is from the SLP’s perspective, As speech and language pathologists, how do we determine if a preschool child is showing signs of stuttering vs. typical disfluencies? In this post, we will look at ..read more

Education activity with elementary school child who stutters I’ve been working with this great elementary school kid who stutters.  He’s had some really great speech therapy before coming to work with me.  Recently we’ve been working on reducing some of the negative thoughts and emotions by way of educating him about stuttering so that he can be an expert.  He’s pretty close already… In our last session we figured out how many people total and how many kids stutter in certain areas.  His project for the week was to make a quiz, and give it to his family members and also his ..read more

Watch to find out how…But I’m going to warn you, this might be a different way of thinking about stuttering therapy than you’re used to…keep an open mind… Up next is how stuttering is like Jack and The Beanstalk… Groups are forming now. Contact me for more Information ..read more

Nurse Judy at Noe Valley Pediatrics recently updated her blog about speech development.  I was honored that Nurse Judy reached out to me to see if there was anything I wanted to add to her post.  Thanks Nurse Judy for the opportunity to share a little bit about some red flags for stuttering in pre-school aged children.  Early intervention is key! Noe Valley Pediatrics is a highly respected, neighborhood pediatric medical practice that has been around since 1977.  They are located on 24th St and Dolores in Noe Valley ..read more