Hi, my name is Abi and I am a second-year speech pathology graduate student. I am currently taking a class on stuttering, and one thing we have talked about a lot that I find interesting is covert stuttering. I have heard about several individuals’ experiences with covert stuttering, and based on what I have heard, many of them used avoidant behaviors without even realizing it. They described how they didn’t learn about covert stuttering until they were older, and not only did they not realize that this was what they were doing, but they also didn’t realize that many other people had similar experiences.
Do you think that there is a good way to approach this topic with children while they’re younger? Could this be connected with interacting with others who stutter, such as a therapy group, or even learning about famous people who stutter? I wonder if children feeling as if they are not alone and being more open about stuttering would be a good way to discuss avoidant behaviors and different options for approaches and ways of thinking about stuttering, or if this is best addressed when children get older.
Abi, I believe it’s important for children to feel they are not alone and to know they are not doing something “wrong” or “bad” because they stutter from the very beginning, so talking openly about stuttering, connecting them with other children who stutter (especially an older “peer mentor”), etc. can be effective ways to prevent covert tendencies.
I would also recommend you read Gerlach-Houck et al.’s 2022 article entitled, “Concealing Stuttering at School: ‘When You Can’t Fix It…the Only Alternative Is to Hide It'” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36327554/) and Sisskin & Goldstein’s 2022 article entitled, “Avoidance Reduction Therapy for School-Age Children Who Stutter” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35697036/). You should be able to access both of these through your university’s research databases (if not, you can email the authors directly for a copy).
Dear Abi,
Congratulations on being able to discuss covert stuttering in your course. It’s a fantastic situation because it will make you a sensitive and attentive speech-language therapist. The lack of knowledge about covert stuttering sometimes makes our colleagues unaware of the significant harm that comes from concealing stuttering. In my opinion, the more stuttering is neutralized and treated as a characteristic, a different form of speaking, the lesser the danger of covert stuttering occurring. If a child is exposed to an environment of openness and acceptance from a young age, it is less likely that they will hide their stuttering. Contact with other children who stutter and promoting appropriate attitudes towards stuttering in the child’s environment can also be helpful. It’s also valuable to provide the child with good role models to emulate, such as fulfilled adults who demonstrate self-acceptance. In speech therapy, focusing on goals and activities that do not exhibit ableism but promote good communication and acceptance of stuttering is crucial. Good communication in the child’s surroundings and having reasonable expectations of the child will also be excellent ways to provide support.
Enjoy your course, Kasia
Hi Abi!
Just a short comment here; in my clinical practice I have seen that many PWS primarily overtly, may have lots of avoidance behaviour too, especially related to social-related situations. However, it is now documented in research that people who stutter primarily covertly, are identified more often with linguistic avoidance. Another interesting finding, is that, on group-level, people regardless if they are regarded as people who stutter overall covertly or overtly, were struggling with negative emotional and social impact of stuttering. I think that it is important to find out what kind of safety behaviours or coping strategies which is most prominent, regardless of the person’s stuttering behaviour. I find the work of Constantino and colleagues (2017) relevant, in which they describe covert stuttering (“passing as fluent”) as both a means of securing power and a means of exerting power, and they are regarding people with covert stuttering with high levels of agency in their lives.
Of course I am in agreement with colleagues (for example Boyle et al., 2018; Byrd, Croft, Gkalitsiou, & Hampton, 2017; Byrd, McGill, Gkalitsiou, & Cappellini, 2017; Douglass et al., 2018) who regard the process of ‘coming out’ as a person who stutter of great clinical importance. To highlight the aspect of diversity is relevant when you are collaborating with younger children as well as adolescents and adults who stutter. In each case everything has to be considered within a context-sensitive frame. In stead of considering any behaviour as negative or positive, I would rather understand why the person is choosing to hide their stuttering. The costs and benefits may be considered by the person himself, rather than we as SLPs to be the evaluators. Through the collaboration or therapy process in which you are giving enough space for the person’s own considerations, you together may find or explore better ways to deal with stuttering. ‘
If you are interested, you can find more information and relevant references in this article (which is published in openaccess format):
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002199242200065X
Best wishes for the future!
Hilda