SLPs who support people who stutter must keep learning from experts (people who stutter)
The big picture:
Developmental stuttering is common. To support people who stutter, speech pathologists (SLPs) need technical knowledge, skills, and clinical experience working with people who stutter. But, in 2025, that’s no longer enough!
Basic knowledge:
SLPs who work with people who stutter must know about:
- principles of assessment and intervention, including person-centred care;
- myths, superstitions, stigma, and stereotypes;
- current theories about the causes of stuttering;
- risk factors for stuttering, including genetics;
- predictors of persistent stuttering;
- research on emotional regulation and stuttering;
- evidence-based stuttering interventions and therapies:
- stuttering modification techniques;
- speech modification techniques;
- cognitive behaviour interventions (e.g. to reduce social anxiety);
- people who stutter and speak more than one language;
- cultural responsiveness of our services to the needs of different clients and families;
- working with parents, teachers, employers and others to support people who stutter in different settings like home, school, and workplaces; and
- professional issues (e.g. around informed consent, discrimination laws, and funding models).
Not enough:
SLPs practising in 2025 need to challenge some of the assumptions underpinning their initial training, and understand that:
- different people who stutter have different views on stuttering, and different expectations for the services they want from us; and
- a client’s “real world” communication challenges may have more to do with arbitrary social barriers, and other people’s ignorance or prejudice, than stuttering severity.
Social model of disability:
There are so many simple, practical things we can all do to de-stigmatise stuttering and to make life easier for people who stutter, including:
- through public, school, and workplace education initiatives to dispel stereotypes, and provide helpful strategies to interact more positively with a person who stutters;
- by criticising the way stuttering is depicted in the media and in popular entertainment;
- in schools, e.g. with minor adjustments to oral academic tasks;
- in workplaces, e.g. with slight tweaks to job interview processes and requirements; and
- with retail and community services, e.g. by training staff to listen patiently, and by providing options apart from AI- or time-pressured customer support phone lines.
Neurodiversity:
Stuttering – which affects 1% of the population at any given time – should be respected and valued as a common form of human verbal diversity. Seen this way, stuttering is perfectly normal and natural for people who stutter, and nothing to be ashamed about.
Read more:
Designing a Module on Stuttering and Cluttering: A Guide for Speech-Language Pathology Educators (paywalled)
Go deeper:
Scott Yaruss shares his thoughts on “Stuttering as Verbal Diversity”
Stuttering, Vulnerability, and Intimacy | Christopher Constantino | TEDxFSU
I Stutter. But I Need You to Listen. | NYT Opinion
Check out SLP Voon Pang’s work: https://www.skillbuildersslt.com/
More from us:
This month’s Banter Booster Premium includes a fully scripted resource – “It’s OK to Stutter” – to help SLPs who want to go beyond medical models of stuttering to affirm and support their clients better. It’s designed to help SLPs let go of their initial training and to stop talking about stuttering as something to be eliminated or hidden.
Stuttering therapy: going beyond medical models
Speech pathologists working with adults who stutter: let’s open our ears and minds
Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.
Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language
Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.
