The purpose of this workshop was to provide clinicians with the tools to assess the real-life impact that stuttering has on the child and their family by identifying various factors which affect the child’s ability or desire to communicate in different settings. Participants were introduced to a dynamic assessment protocol, which leads to individualized treatment plans. Practices were reviewed in light of the current research base and functional examples will be used to demonstrate specific strategies applicable to working therapeutically with children who stutter and their families
CORA asked 2 attendees to provide feedback on their training.
What is something specific you learned about stuttering in this workshop that you did not already know?
- Dr. Donaher was extremely knowledgeable on the topic of stuttering. His uplifting personality and informative content made the presentation informative and entertaining. Specifically, I learned about the huge benefit of “Voluntary Stuttering” which is choosing to intentionally stutter. He explained therapy techniques to help desensitize stuttering for the student.
– Katie Kolenik, CORA Speech Therapist
From this workshop, what advice would you give parents about stuttering?
- The therapeutic relationship between the speech therapist and the family can be extremely impactful to the child’s outcome. Some parents find fault in themselves for their child’s poor communication. An additional role of the therapist is to help educate the parent on eliminating the stigma of stuttering. Stuttering can lead to low self-confidence and lack of communication. Parents should encourage the child to speak and allow them time to speak by not talking for them.
– Danielle Carullo, CORA Speech Therapist
Can you share some insights from the training that could help others?
- Knowledge and use of specific fluency techniques only account for 15% of a client’s outcome.
- Classroom teachers that have students who stutter should change their mindset to focus on communication as a whole and praise the child for other positive behaviors such as eye contact and turn taking.
- Speech therapists can be a positive role model for students by creating a welcoming space for students to feel comfortable to work on their fluency.
