Stuttering in Academic Settings
Hi! My name is Emily Gates. I am a graduate student at Stephen F. Austin State University currently taking a fluency disorders course. This class has greatly deepened my interest in supporting individuals who stutter and clutter. One question I have is this: How can speech-language pathologists best support adolescents who stutter or clutter in academic settings where oral participation is heavily graded, while still promoting equity, confidence, and self-acceptance?
Hi Emily,
Since this is something I encounter a lot, I like your question. I work in Germany and in Germany oral participation and presentations are a big part of the grades students receive. Sometimes they are even more important than the written assignments. In Germany there is a law that protects students with a disability and schools are forced to think of any way to hep their students in a way their grades are not being influenced by something they cannot help. for students who stutter and/or clutter this means that the student, the SLP and the teacher(s) make a plan how to support the student so they can show what they really know. Students can be offered several ways to help them with this, like making a recording (audio or video), presenting just for the teacher and not for the whole class, a written assignment, choral reading if they have to read out loud, and so on.
Apart from that in therapy I try to prepare the students for their tasks at school. This can mean that we practice with Virtual Reality, look at the presentations they have prepared and help them with cues and tips and encourage them.
One of my clients loves to practice her presentations with VR and than without. Doing it with me helps her gain the courage and the techniques and tips help her to give great presentations now.
This way we build self-confidence and self-acceptance.
I hope this answers your question. Enjoy the work with people who stutter and/ or clutter!
Best wishes,
Manon
Hey Emily!
Fab to hear you’re enjoying your class and it’s fostered an interest in stuttering and cluttering. I love your question and in particular that you’re thinking about promoting equity, confidence and self-acceptance. I’d like to on to that and suggest we’re also fostering a belief that the person knows that their voice is valuable, worthy and one to be heard and respected, just as it is, if they don’t already feel that way.
I love Manon’s reply, and in the UK, it is the same – disability is protected by UK law and accommodations/reasonable adjustments can be made and even requested by writing to the exam board. We have a long list of different suggestions which we agree with the young person…. Or they create their own.
Oral participation can often exclude people who stutter/clutter which in turn can impact on their confidence and self-acceptance. For some, they have desire and confidence to participate, yet are thwarted by others’ perceptions and opinions about how they think stuttering should be supported.
In considering what a young person needs, it’s always highly nuanced and never clear cut and we must work together in conjunction with our young people to figure out what is going to work best for them both in the short and longer term. We know that there can be short term gains, which don’t always help longer term. What do they need and want in that situation? For example, a teacher not asking a child who stutters to read aloud may give a message that they believe their voice is not worthy of being heard, yet for another child, it could be pure relief and protect them from trauma. If we’re making recommendations to a teacher to stop asking a child to answer questions in class because this is what the child wants, are we fostering concealment or are we supporting them? I’ve heard from adults who stammer who’ve said that they absolutely didn’t want to participate orally in class, and their therapist and school supported their decision. This only served to reinforce to them their voice wasn’t good enough. There is such a fine, delicate line to tread in all of this. I certainly wouldn’t be wanting to speaking in class if I knew that environment wasn’t safe for me to do that. This is why I think education about stuttering in our schools is helpful and can help to provide more supportive stammering friendly environments. I believe gentle steps, moving towards more participation, celebrating successes (however big or small), getting ready to tolerate difficult feelings, expecting and feeling these feelings are all part of the process. Get to know your young person, hear them, and then you can agree your way together. Good luck,
Nic
Hello Emily, I’m in Longview, TX so not far from you! 🙂 I wanted to recommend two practical articles for working with adolescents who stutter: 1) Building Clinical Relationships with Teenagers Who Stutter by Zebrowski (https://pubs.asha.org/doi/pdf/10.1044/cicsd_29_S_91), and 2) Working With Teenagers Who Stutter: Simple Suggestions for a Complex Change by Zebrowski and Wolf (https://pubs.asha.org/doi/abs/10.1044/ffd21.2.37).
There are also two video resources I recommend. The first video provides information and insight about students who stutter in the classroom and ways teachers can best support them, and it also comes with a downloadable advocacy guide: https://www.chmelacommunicationcenter.com/advocacy-guide. The second video depicts the experience of various teens who stutter (in New Zealand), and I believe learning from them directly is very important: https://youtu.be/p-tenW8qUK8?si=Bst1i7GTdrxY-EPB.
When it comes to their educational experience, I believe working alongside your student with their teachers is extremely important. This might mean helping the teen learn how to disclose their stutter, brainstorming appropriate accommodations that gradually increase talking and build their confidence, and collaborating with teachers to make sure grading rubrics and even oral reading tests don’t penalize children/teens for stuttering.
Last but not least, bibliotherapy can also be helpful, choosing books with characters who stutter or facing other challenges, which opens the door to powerful discussions about different aspects of the stuttering experience, resilience, etc. Spero Stuttering offers a free resource for bibliotherapy entitled “Story Stream” which you might check out: https://www.sperostuttering.org/therapist-resources/resource-library. – Ana Paula Mumy
Hi Emily
As this question is for both panels, I, a PWS, will reply as well.
When I was young my teachers didn’t have much knowledge on stuttering (and sadly many still don’t). So I got high grades on written exams, but low grades on oral exams. As “I hadn’t done my homework”, while I simply couldn’t get the words out. One told me to not ask questions as I took too much time. One let me come in front of the class for homework check, knowing I’d freeze, while another let give a presentation only for her, but sacked me as I took too much time to present.
What would have made a difference was if the teacher would have asked me what would make school easier for me. To together find ways to still do all the assignments, but maybe in another way. F ex to record my presentations. To use modern technique to present, while I could still be in my bench. To raise 1 finger if I know the answer and want to talk, and 2 fingers if I know but rather not say it out loud. And to not judge or grade me like a non-PWS, just as you wouldn’t grade a person in a wheelchair for not running a mile, or a blind student to read a written book.
I’d also want the teachers, classmates, the school nurse, the food lady, etc to know what stuttering is, how to interact with a PWS and how not. Maybe by inviting a PWS to school, have leaflets in different places (also about support groups and camps), using the ISAD and/or the International Day of People with Disabilities, Dec 3, to raise awareness on stuttering, also to parents. This can help students to get the support and understanding they need, know they are not alone, and hopefully decrease bullying.
I’ve also been a presenter to many schools and exhibitions for school staff. To hear “we don’t have students who stutter” (when I first talk about me and than ask if anyone else stutters, students raise their hands), “we know all about stuttering so you get 10 min” (and leave after 2 hrs 😉 ), “stuttering isn’t a problem for us” (without having asked the student whether it’s a problem for him or not) or even worse “we let the student sing the words”… Presenting at schools have been such a joy! I got the stuttering student to tell the class what he wants, making stuttering cool (ISAD = presents, we pet snakes at camps, etc) so that students tell me they also want to stutter (which I help them with by bringing a DAF), and giving autographs, is a lasting experiences to all.
I also gave some advice in my paper in this conference, so feel free to have a read. 🙂
Happy ISAD and keep them talking
Anita
Hi, Emily, and thank you for raising this interesting issue.
When I was in public school, and the other kids were required to give oral reports, what I appreciated was being given a CHOICE. I greatly preferred it if teachers were sensitive to the fact of my severe stuttering, and if they asked me if I would prefer to give an oral presentation like the other kids, or to submit a written paper instead.
It may surprise some readers that when public school teachers did give me this choice, I ALWAYS chose to give the report orally as the other kids were doing.
I saw no reason to refuse to give reports orally. Yes, it was difficult and time-consuming (I often had sizable blocks). But I preferred not to let my stuttering stop me from doing the same assignments or the same projects as the other kids.
Everyone in my classes knew I stuttered, understood I had difficulties, and was patient with me. I didn’t want to let my stuttering win and stop me from being just like the other kids regarding school assignments.
BUT – I still very much appreciated being given the choice by my teachers, whether I preferred to do reports orally like everyone else, or in written form.
I remember one time shortly after the beginning of fifth grade. A new teacher, not aware of my difficulties, asked us all to do an oral report. When it was my turn, I stuttered severely – as expected – during the first few sentences. The teacher told me something like this before the class: “I see that you have a little difficulty in speaking” [a deliberate understatement; my blocking had been severe, on almost every word]. “You can sit down, and do a written report instead.” I did, but I sure didn’t like being treated that way – though I realized that the teacher was trying to be kind.
I was happy when the teacher left for another school, and we got a new teacher a few weeks later.
My strategy of always choosing to do oral reports (when given the choice) changed during my graduate school years. In an advanced graduate seminar, when everyone was presenting oral reports of advanced research, I elected to take the option of writing my reports in advance, and having another grad student read them to the class. That helped save time, and also enabled the students to concentrate on the advanced scholarly material, rather than on my speech.