Past Speech Therapy Experiences of Individuals Exploring a New Stuttering Treatment

Abstract

Perceptions of benefits of speech therapy, success of therapy across clinical settings, reasons for returning to therapy, client-clinician relationships, and clinicians' competency were assessed in 57 participants (47 men, 10 women; M age = 34 yr.) trying a new therapy. A majority of respondents had cumulatively five or more years in therapy and at least two stuttering therapies. Respondents rated university or hospital settings as more successful than services in public schools. 70% of the respondents noted difficulty communicating basic needs; they blamed themselves for inability to maintain posttherapeutic gains while perceiving their clinicians to be competent and attentive--although 47% of the respondents had minimal to no contact with their therapist after therapy.

Effectiveness of nonpharmacological stuttering interventions on communication and psychosocial functioning in adults: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials

“…Speech‐language pathologists (SLPs) play a unique role in implementing treatments with adults who stutter. Despite this, stuttering therapy provided by SLPs continues to be characterized negatively by adults who stutter, with high relapse rates following treatment 22,23 . Negative perceptions reported include difficulties in developing a therapeutic relationship, 24 SLPs’ reduced experience, 23 and lack of carryover of fluent speech to real‐life situations 23,24 .…”

Helping Students Who Stutter: Interprofessional Collaboration Between Speech-Language Pathologists and School Counselors

“…Although improved mental hygiene (positive attitudes about oneself and one’s communication abilities) has been a recommended area of focus in the stuttering modification approach to treatment since the early 1900s, only more recently, in the mid-2000s, has the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) emphasized the need for holistic therapy, focusing on the person and their lived experiences (Bloodstein & Bernstein-Ratner, 2008). Studies showed that when fluency was the primary goal of stuttering therapy, clients had increased anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, guilt, and shame posttherapy (Craig, Hancock, Tran, Craig, & Peters, 2002; Dayalu & Kalinowski, 2002; Guntupalli, Nanjundeswaran, Kalinowski, & Dayalu, 2011). Moreover, researchers found that clients tended to relapse nearly 96% of the time following treatment (DiLollo, Neimeyer, & Manning, 2002).…”