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Options Of Stuttering Therapy

Options Of Stuttering Therapy

The kind of stuttering therapy may vary from one patient to another.  Age is the primary consideration in selecting the appropriate treatment as well as the extent or the severity of the disorder.

In young kids, there are basically two approaches: indirect therapy and direct therapy.  The first one focuses on altering or modifying the child’s environment to give him or her the opportunity to develop a fluent speech.  Naturally, parents are expected to play an active role in this process.  They have to alter their very own behaviors which are crucial to the development of their child’s fluency.  For instance, they may be asked to reduce the amount of stress in the household or decrease their speech-language demands on the child.  They may also be advised to modify the characteristics of their own speeches like their talking rate and their turn-taking habit.  They have to consciously involve their child in the conversation and give him or her enough chance to gather his or her thoughts and express him or herself.

On the other hand, the direct approach in stuttering therapy is done by teaching the child to utilize skills which will help him or her improve fluency. At times, he or she is rewarded verbally for being able to speak smoothly.  This and indirect therapy may work hand-in-hand in a single program for treatment.

Now, let’s move on to learn about stuttering therapy for older kids and adults.

Approaches for this may either target helping the individual modify his or her fluency, or, focus on helping the person change his or her stuttering.  The former requires a development of new speech patterns. The latter technique, on the other hand, often involves teaching the person to decrease the severity of his or her stuttering symptoms by identifying and then getting rid of all the reactive or secondary behaviors.  The patient will also be taught to reduce his or her emotional reaction toward the disorder.