Explaining stuttering
Hi, my name is Katie Dean. I’m a second year SLP graduate student, currently taking my first fluency course. How do you help clients, specifically children, transfer what they learn in therapy to real-life situations, such as school presentations, or conversations with strangers? Thank you!
Hi Katie! Thanks for your question.
A lot of what I teach in therapy is done in the context of role play or what would you do scenarios. So if we’re working on disclosing that they have a stutter or asking for time to speak or explaining what a stutter is to someone else, it’s typically done in a situation where they can generalize it to the real world if they so choose.
It’s important to know what your client’s level of comfort is with talking about stuttering to others, identifying as a person who stutters, telling someone that they have a stutter, or asking for accommodations during school presentations. A lot of the time, the client can practice in the session and pretend they are in that situation, but role playing can’t mirror the pressure that the client will feel when they are faced with that situation in real time or outside of the therapy room. It’s important for them to know they always have a choice to choose the challenge or choose to protect themselves and continue to practice in therapy!
Hi Katie,
I also use role play, but I found that the gap between role play and the real life situation sometimes is too big. Since a few years I am using VR to practice in these situations. During role play they are practising with me and/or a student and those are people they already know. With VR they can also practice with “strangers”. The next step might be that we go into the situation together (if possible). What also helps a lot is group therapy, where they see others doing things and seeing that makes it easier to decide to take that step as well.
Manon