Questions About Stuttering Treatment
What kinds of treatment do you provide?
Treatment is unique to each person and can include speaking more fluently, stuttering more fluently, and becoming comfortable with your speech. My goal is to help each client participate fully in his or her life, not be limited by difficulty talking. I am most interested in helping the client become a better communicator.
How long does treatment take?
Stuttering is variable, and the length of treatment will depend on the client's goals, severity of the problem, and commitment to working on the goals. Treatment can range from several sessions of "touchup" to a year.
What programs do you use?
For adolescents and adults, I use a hybrid of techniques and approaches, with the goal of achieving real confidence in being able to communicate. Knowledge of the talking process, self-awareness of what is happening in a moment of stuttering, techniques for easing out, forward-moving speech, bounces, and easy starts are some of the tools clients have found helpful when increased fluency is the goal. Attitudes and thoughts about talking are a very important component of therapy, too. Developing a hierarchy of situations in which talking is difficult and then progressing through that hierarchy improves quality of life for a person who stutters. I frequently draw on principles of Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Participation in a support group such as the local chapter of NSA can be extremely beneficial to a person who stutters. Although I am not a person who stutters, I participated actively in the Ann Arbor chapter pre-pandemic.
For children, I provide age-appropriate adaptations of the techniques described above. Consultation is also available for families seeking indirect treatment, during which I provide communication strategies and techniques to people in the child's environment.
Treatment is unique to each person and can include speaking more fluently, stuttering more fluently, and becoming comfortable with your speech. My goal is to help each client participate fully in his or her life, not be limited by difficulty talking. I am most interested in helping the client become a better communicator.
How long does treatment take?
Stuttering is variable, and the length of treatment will depend on the client's goals, severity of the problem, and commitment to working on the goals. Treatment can range from several sessions of "touchup" to a year.
What programs do you use?
For adolescents and adults, I use a hybrid of techniques and approaches, with the goal of achieving real confidence in being able to communicate. Knowledge of the talking process, self-awareness of what is happening in a moment of stuttering, techniques for easing out, forward-moving speech, bounces, and easy starts are some of the tools clients have found helpful when increased fluency is the goal. Attitudes and thoughts about talking are a very important component of therapy, too. Developing a hierarchy of situations in which talking is difficult and then progressing through that hierarchy improves quality of life for a person who stutters. I frequently draw on principles of Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Participation in a support group such as the local chapter of NSA can be extremely beneficial to a person who stutters. Although I am not a person who stutters, I participated actively in the Ann Arbor chapter pre-pandemic.
For children, I provide age-appropriate adaptations of the techniques described above. Consultation is also available for families seeking indirect treatment, during which I provide communication strategies and techniques to people in the child's environment.