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Adult therapy and courses

What sort of treatments do qualified speech and language therapists offer?

A separate page deals with Finding a qualified speech and language therapist.

Therapy for stammering is usually offered on an individual or a group basis for a pre-defined period of time. At an initial appointment or assessment, the therapist will discuss your individual needs with you.

The length, number and timing of sessions will largely depend on your particular needs and the therapy approach being used. Non-intensive therapy may consist of weekly, one-hour individual and/or group sessions, and can be short-term or long-term. Intensive courses can be anything between one and three weeks. After an intensive course, follow-up sessions are generally recommended.

The main forms of treatment offered are as follows:

Stammer More Fluently (Stammering modification approaches)

Block modification The aim is not for total fluency but to help the client stammer more easily. Involves work on attitude change as well as communication behaviour.

Avoidance reduction therapy The person who stammers is taught to acknowledge that they stammer and approach speaking situations instead of avoiding them. Can include 'voluntary stammering'.

Speak More Fluently

Speak More Fluently (Fluency-modification techniques) Fluency-modification techniques such as slowed speech/ prolonged speech. Aim to replace stammered speech with fluent speech in the clinic setting, and the client is then helped to carry over the fluency techniques into outside situations.

Vocal Fold Management

Vocal Fold Management Many people who stammer report that they experience most tension around their voice box. Vocal fold management (vfm) helps to reduce that tension. City Lit, London, use the technique in combination with block modification.

Psychological Approaches

Personal Construct Therapy (PCT) Helps the client and therapist understand the psychological effects that stammering has upon the client's life. Through careful self-exploration and experimentation, the client works to increase fluency and develop a more positive attitude towards any stammering that remains.

Counselling Counselling may be part of a comprehensive treatment approach. Can be helpful for people who stammer who feel they might benefit from talking about negative feelings, unhappy experiences and the effects of their stammer upon their lives.

Cognitive Therapy Clients learn to identify thoughts which trigger feelings such as self-consciousness, embarrassment or anxiety. They then learn to challenge or question these rather than accept them as fact.

Relaxation techniques Often included as part of a comprehensive treatment approach, relaxation techniques aim to help the client develop healthy ways of responding to stressful situations. Different speech and language therapists use different relaxation techniques. Some people find learning skills to relax very beneficial for their overall wellbeing. It takes practice to use relaxation skills in stressful situations but there can be benefits in being able to relax after a stressful event. (There are some resources on our page Meditation, yoga, relaxation.)

Other approaches

Anxiety control management. Assertiveness training. Brief therapy (solution focused therapy). Electronic fluency devices Hypnosis. Narrative therapy Neuro-linguistic programming Process orientated psychological approach Social skills training.

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