9. Four strategies with stuttering

There could be millions of strategies for dealing with stuttering, but ultimately, they can be broken down into four stages based on how you feel about speaking interaction. That’s our ultimate measure. 

In this episode, I will help you identify your current stage and provide guidance on how to progress to the next level. 

If you’re a parent of a child who stutters or a speech therapist - it equally applies to you as well. Your child’s strategy depends on you as a parent. Your clients’ strategies depend on you as a speech therapist. 

So, the four stages:

1. Default strategy of adapting and speaking less. A lot of people who stutter would find them to be here. 
2. Using therapy and techniques to improve speaking. We can find improvement, but oftentimes we’re coming back to where we started. Because no change in principle. 
3. Open stuttering, I don’t bother, stuttering is OK. Still trying to say it “regularly, normally, fluently.” A big step forward, but still tension, and still traumatic to some extent. 
4. Using training speech as a way to reveal your stutter, not hide it. Ability to back up and speak on your terms. Developing a true “no worries” feeling that “regular” people have about their glitches. 

As an action item, click the links below for your inspiration. Try to identify which stage those practices are in.

Links 

• Real phone call with disclosure - Niko
• Job interview with disclosure - Nikolaos
• Stutter hunt with Vildan 
• Time Pressure with Pavel

If you want to go deeper into how we can address stuttering, pick your free training: 

• For adults who stutter
• For parents who have kids who stutter