The program was originally aired as part of the “Case Studies in Fluency Disorders” online conference (October 31-November 12, 2012).

Typically, few people know that a person with covert stuttering has a fluency disorder, which makes it challenging for the SLP to "uncover the stutterer." In this program, you'll learn methods to evaluate and provide services for a person (aged 13+) who has covert stuttering. We'll examine instruments that tap into clients' reactions, feelings, and attitudes toward stuttering and assess how they see themselves as communicators. You'll learn to design a program that includes attitude-changing, homework assignments, strategies to address stuttering directly, and steps to help clients become their own clinicians. By following a case study, you'll learn to move clients from "hiding" to "acceptance" while gaining a fuller understanding of the oxymoron of "acceptance."

Learning Outcomes
You will be able to:

• describe the characteristics of covert stuttering,
• plan and administer an evaluation that helps identify and explore your clients' attitudes and emotional reactions toward their stuttering,
• create therapy tasks that support clients in confronting their fears and negative attitudes toward stuttering,
• create therapy tasks that work toward integrating both fluency shaping and stuttering-modification skills to manage and reduce the severity and frequency of stuttering, and
• explain how "acceptance of stuttering" can lead to stuttering management and increased fluency.

 View the Table of Contents [PDF]