Rethinking Adult Stuttering: Building Communication Confidence
Summary
The Reality: Stuttering is often a lifelong journey involving physical speech disruptions and the unseen emotional pressure to hide them.
The Goal: Building overall communication confidence, whether or not that includes fluency-based treatments.
The Approach: We utilize tools like voluntary stuttering to reduce speaking fears, the Camperdown Program for those seeking fluency strategies, and collaborate with psychologists to support mental health.
Stuttering is often a lifelong condition. It is defined not just by the physical speech disruptions we hear, but by how a person anticipates, manages, and reacts to speaking situations.
While social anxiety isn't an inherent part of the condition, many adults carry a heavy, unseen burden: the pressure to hide their stutter from the world. Navigating fluency as an adult is a complex journey, which is why we wanted to explore what truly matters in stuttering therapy.
Watch Our Deep Dive
Our Approach
Our focus is always on building communication confidence as the ultimate goal – whether that journey includes fluency-based treatments or not. Everyone's path is different, and we explore several avenues to find what works best:
Voluntary Stuttering: An empowering tool used to reclaim control, desensitize the speaker, and reduce the underlying fear of speaking situations.
The Camperdown Program: For those seeking fluency strategies, we utilize this evidence-based approach, which aims to help adults manage and reduce stuttering severity using prolonged speech techniques.
Collaborative Support: We frequently work alongside psychologists utilizing frameworks like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to address the mental health impacts that can sometimes accompany stuttering.
Resources for Connection and Inspiration
If you are looking for community or a shift in perspective, we highly recommend exploring these links:
References
For a closer look at the research, here is the peer-reviewed literature that informs our practice:
Australian Stuttering Research Centre. (n.d.). Information about stuttering. University of Technology Sydney.
Constantino, C. D., Manning, W. H., & Nordstrom, S. N. (2017). Rethinking covert stuttering. Journal of fluency disorders, 53, 26-40.
Hart, A. K., Breen, L. J., Hennessey, N. W., & Beilby, J. M. (2024). Evaluation of an integrated fluency and acceptance and commitment therapy intervention for adolescents and adults who stutter. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 67(4), 1003-1019.
Hazrati, Y., & Abdi, H. (2024). The Effect of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Based on Mindfulness on Social Anxiety, Self-Efficacy and Quality of Life of Adults with Stuttering with a Psycholinguistic Approach.
Iverach, L., et al. (2009). Prevalence of anxiety disorders among adults seeking speech therapy for stuttering. Journal of anxiety disorders, 23(7), 928-934.
Leclercq, A. L., et al. (2024). Treatment for preschool age children who stutter: Protocol of a randomised, non-inferiority parallel group pragmatic trial... PloS one, 19(7), e0304212.
Lei, X., Sasisekaran, J., & Nguyen-Feng, V. N. (2024). The experience of stuttering in everyday life among adults who stutter: The impact of trait social anxiety and the social situations. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 80, 106061.
Metten, C., et al. (2011). Dual tasking and stuttering: From the laboratory to the clinic. Disability and Rehabilitation, 33(11), 933-944.
Neef, N. E., & Chang, S. E. (2024). Knowns and unknowns about the neurobiology of stuttering. PLoS biology, 22(2), e3002492.
Onslow, M., O’Brian, S., Packman, A., & Rousseau, I. (2004). Long-term follow up of speech outcomes for a prolonged-speech treatment for stuttering... Evidence-based treatment of stuttering, 231-244.
Van Eerdenbrugh, S., & O'Brian, S. (2023). The Camperdown Program. Dialogue without barriers: A comprehensive approach to dealing with stuttering.