Advice for Middle/High School SLP
Hi All! My name is Sherilyn Drexler and I am a second-year SLP masters student currently in a stuttering course.
Thank you all for being willing to answer questions and talk so openly on the forum about your experiences- it is so insightful to read through.
My goal is to work in a middle or high school, so I am looking for advice on adolescents or teens. It seems like a good amount of people who stutter talk about how self-acceptance, desensitization, and/or self-advocacy were really important for them. However, it seems like this is a journey and my teens or adolecents might be in a place where they are not ready for that, and might want to solely focus on fluency. Being told “it’s okay to stutter” from a well-meaning SLP who has never stuttered when you don’t want to hear it I could imagine being really frustrating. On the other hand, I don’t want to instill anything harmful either that it’s fluency or nothing.
How would you recommend going about this? Am I thinking about this in the right way?
Thank you so much in advance!
Hi Sherilyn!
Thank you for your input.
I think of working with this age range is a potential high-reward outcome. I remember being that age and having to deal with a lot of mental and emotional changes, so while becoming more fluent was something I wanted, self-advocacy wasn’t. But that isn’t anything that should be detrimental. It took many years for me to get there and I haven’t really looked back since.
Something important to remember when dealing with the middle/high school demographic is to give them an outlet to speak about what’s going on in their lives outside of speech therapy. Even if you can’t provide any advice, let them have that outlet, whether it’s not liking school, something unpleasant at home, or losing a friend.
As for speech therapy itself, be honest with them in the most constructive way possible. Don’t make them feel that they have to be fluent in a fixed amount of time. Give them the confidence to know that they’re getting better with each session and, using an example from my own longtime SLP growing up, give them an encouraging system. My longtime SLP’s system was “Not so good, Good, Great”. So, let that lowest grade be honest but not demoralizing.
And when you do say that it’s okay to stutter or something along those lines, tell them like you’re speaking to a colleague as opposed to a client. Viewing them as the latter in this context can result in a more patronizing tone, which is rarely intentional, but can come off that way — especially to a teenager.
I hope this helps, Sherilyn, and best of luck!
Hi Sherilyn Drexler and thank you for your very important question.
You sure are on the right way. Not everyone is ready to accept stuttering. Especially when coming from a fluent person. I still have a problem with people saying in chat groups “I could do it and so can you”. Do we have the same stutter, the same brain and body, the same background, experiences, parents, teachers, and goals?? Or “stuttering isn’t a problem”. Well, for one it isn’t, for another it is. I might stutter and not care, or hide my stutter and feel like a failure if one stuttered word comes out of my mouth. One size does NOT fit all. But only aiming for fluency might be doomed to dissapoint. Not everyone can climb the mount Everest. So try and find what is an OK goal for that very student, at least to start with. Getting out of a block? Facing bullies?
It’s not easy to be young. You’re wondering about your future, your body, your friends, your school results, what to become, etc. Most kids at that age want to fit in. So should you be you, or try to hide who you are and aim to just fit in at all costs? And on top of that, you stutter… So you see an SLP who you think might judge you, count your stutters, use what you say against you (yup, that actually happened to me), so can you trust this person who needs to know the true you to be able to help you?
As that’s exactly what you will have to do. Ask questions. Listen. Don’t start focusing on the stutter, but on the person behind the stutter. Who is s/he. What does s/he want, not only from therapy, but also from life. How are relationships with family, friends, school etc. Tell him/her that you’re not judging, not counting syllables, not reaching for fluency (which might feel like forcing her to climb the mount Everest in a wheelchair) just finding out where s/he is, and where s/he wants to be. So yes, one-on-one might fit. Or to bring a friend. Or match her with one peer (or even an adult who stutters) who you know is understanding. When you write “but I don’t want to take her away from peers who have the same stuttering experiences as her”, remember the theme. It might not be what you think, as every single one in that group are all but the same and probably won’t have the same stuttering experiences, not background. So you’ll need to try and find out who SHE is, where she is, and where she wants to be.
Show the way to meet others who stutter, like camps, meetings, chat groups (check out Penny’s paper on playing video games with other kids who stutter). But also group therapy to proof they are not alone and can support each other. Let him/meet other adults who stutter. Bring a friend into the therapy room and let them do homework together. But… add fun!! When it’s fun, it’s more likely to continue, and to open up. And when giving assignments, do them yourself too. Don’t give assignments you’re not willing to do. Also offer help to speak to the classroom, you or your client, or maybe someone from a local support group. To talk to the class and/or the teachers (but decide that together).
I recently was at a weekend where a group of PWS who stutter practice public speaking together. With the funniest assignments, that made us ROFL! I had a social studies teacher in school who literally jumped on the table to make a point. Don’t just be the therapist. Be the friend. 🙂
Keep them talking
Anita