Group Therapy For Stuttering

Everyone is different. I’ve had clients who get what they need and reach their speech and communication goals in just a few months of attending group stuttering therapy sessions. Others have continued to attend for a few years. You can accelerate growth by attending one of my intensive , if it’s appropriate for you. You can also accelerate your progress towards your speech goals by following through and independently putting into action in your day to day life what you are learning in the weekly stuttering therapy sessions. Truly, what you do outside of sessions matters. Weekly group therapy sessions and individual therapy sessions are ongoing with progress check-ins.

“Stammering” is the word commonly used in Great Britain for stuttering.  In the United States I find people often use the word stammering to describe a more mild form of stuttering.

Neurogenic stuttering is stuttering that occurs in someone who has never stuttered in the past and begins after a neurological trauma or disease. Neurogenic stuttering can begin after a stroke, traumatic brain injury, with neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, and even drug use. It is also possible for someone who had developmental stuttering as a child (which mostly or completely resolved) to begin stuttering again after neurological trauma. Developmental stuttering is the most common form of stuttering which begins in childhood. Neurogenic stuttering typically has an adult onset.

Psychogenic stuttering is stuttering which occurs in an adult who has never stuttered in the past, yet there are no medical factors present. The initiation of this stuttering may be linked to emotional stress or trauma that the individual has recently experienced.  For example someone who went to war and saw his friends die in front of him or a person who was almost run over by a bus yet had no injury to their head. This form of stuttering is rare.

Yes, everyone experiences normal disfluencies in language and communication, such as repeating a word, using fillers, or even having a hard time with language formulation—especially when under pressure or when unprepared. These kinds of common speech patterns are not the same thing as stuttering, where the feeling of loss of control, accompanying anticipation and avoidance behaviors are involved. These true stuttering moments fluctuate and are not only during the above mentioned situations. Telling someone who stutters that ‘everyone stutters sometimes’ or that ‘you do also’ usually comes from a kind place and good intentions, but it is inaccurate and also invalidating of the person who stutters experience.

Avoidance Reduction Therapy (ART) is based on the work of Joseph and Vivian Sheehan and has been expanded upon, taught, and promoted by clinician Vivian Sisskin. This approach to therapy focuses on becoming aware of and reducing avoidance behaviors, struggle, and fear. ART for stuttering includes stuttering openly. It also involves components of identification and desensitization. ART for stuttering does not include working on controlling speech or any physical speech strategies.