Multidimensional Approach

Stuttering involves much more than disfluent speech. It also includes a variety of additional behaviors, feelings, and attitudes that result from our attempts to cope with, avoid, or stop the stuttering. Indeed, it involves physical, emotional, and attitudinal dimensions.

Adult and adolescent therapy directly addresses each of these dimensions.

Physical Dimensions

Primary stuttering behaviors are physical. Overtime, distortions of speech muscle movements and excessively tense speech become deeply ingrained.

Stuttering therapy helps us be-
come aware of, and systematically change, inappropriate speech muscle movements.

Specific strategies are used to reduce physical tension during stuttering and improve speech fluency.

Emotional Dimensions

Stuttering can precipitate a range
of powerful emotions. It can lead to feelings such as embarrassment, frustration, anger, and fear.

Fear of specific words, sounds, and speaking situations can increase tension, disrupt thinking, and lead
to more stuttering.

Therapy helps us develop relax-ation techniques, counter condition ingrained emotional responses, manage stress, and transfer speech skills into anxiety provoking situations.

Attitudinal Dimensions

Given our history of stuttering, it’s not surprising that we often have negative feelings and attitudes about stuttering.

We may think that we’re innately unable to speak any other way,
that any amount of stuttering is unacceptable, or that listeners are critical and/or impatient.

Beliefs such as these can influence how we feel, how we speak, and how we respond to speaking situations.

Stuttering therapy helps us explore and work with these feelings and attitudes.

Continuing Support

After therapy we need to maintain our new speech strategies and integrate them into our daily lives.

Continuation Group services provide us with the opportunity
to review and strengthen our skills, develop ways to manage challen-ging situations, and learn from other clients who have finished the core period of stuttering therapy.