Reimagining stuttering therapy and outcomes through an acceptance and collaborative lens.
Farzan Irani, Michael Azios, Michael Boyle and 4 others
PMID 39893974WHAT IT FOUND
Six adults who stutter and work as speech-language pathologists describe a shift away from fluency goals toward acceptance and advocacy.
They argue that hiding stuttering causes harm and that therapy should help clients communicate freely rather than eliminate disfluencies.
Key findings
01The authors, all adults who stutter and speech-language pathologists, advocate for therapy that prioritizes acceptance, advocacy and communication over eliminating stuttering moments.
02The authors describe fluency-focused therapies as delivering mixed messages that can increase shame and avoidance, arguing that acceptance requires forgoing attempts to hide stuttering.
03The authors disagree on whether speech modification techniques should remain part of therapy, with some viewing them as incompatible with acceptance and others seeing a place for them.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This is not a research study and reports no patient outcomes, effect sizes or comparative data. The views are limited to six male, mostly white, speech-language pathologists who stutter, so they do not represent the broader population of people who stutter or the diversity of clinical experiences. The recommendations are based on personal reflection and professional opinion rather than empirical evidence of efficacy. The authors themselves disagree on whether speech modification techniques should be part of stuttering-affirming therapy.
Declared interests
The paper does not report any funding sources or conflicts of interest declarations.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these recommendations as evidence that acceptance-based therapy produces better clinical outcomes than fluency-based therapy. This paper reports the personal experiences and professional opinions of six clinicians who stutter, not the results of a trial comparing treatments.