Stuttering therapy

Stuttering therapy is any of the various treatment methods that attempt to reduce stuttering to some degree in an individual. Stuttering can be a challenge to treat because there is a lack of evidence-based consensus about therapy. Some believe that there is no cure for the condition. Stuttering therapy is any of the various treatment methods that attempt to reduce stuttering to some degree in an individual. Stuttering can be a challenge to treat because there is a lack of evidence-based consensus about therapy. Some believe that there is no cure for the condition. There are many different approaches to stuttering therapy. While some believe that there is no cure for the condition, stuttering can be reduced and even eliminated with appropriate timely intervention, and various therapy methods have reduced stuttering in individuals to some degree. In any case, for all persons who stutter, the success of speech therapy depends on the combination of education, training, and individualized treatment provided. For a child that stutters, the focus of treatment to prevent the worsening of the condition, and families play an important role in the process. Successful elimination of mild stuttering is likely when treatment is initiated before four years of age. For those who have more advanced forms of stuttering and secondary behaviors, therapy is generally a variation or combination of two approaches: a fluency-shaping technique that replaces stuttering with controlled fluency, and stuttering modification therapy, which focuses on reducing the severity of stuttering. Treatment of mild stuttering in children younger than six years of age focuses on the prevention or elimination of stuttering behaviors. Families play an important role in the management of stuttering in children: therapy is usually characterized by parental involvement and direct treatment, and providing an environment that encourages slow speech, affording the child time to talk, and modeling slowed and relaxed speech can help reduce stuttering. Lidcombe therapy has become prominent in recent years and is effective in preschoolers and young children who stutter, involves a parent or some significant person in the child's life being trained and delivering treatment in the child's everyday environment. In the program, family members are to provide an environment in which the child receives praise for fluent speech in the child's daily speaking and, occasionally, correction of stuttering. Some of the most effective preschool intervention programs call for direct acknowledgment of stuttering in the form of contingencies such as 'that was bumpy' or 'that was smooth'. Research and clinical trials have shown that the Lidcombe Program can eliminate stuttering for the most part and fluency can be maintained through a criterion based maintenance program, when stuttering begins in the first few years of life. Fluency shaping therapy focuses on changing all the speech of the person who stutters, and not just the portions of speech in which he or she stutters. This type of therapy involves teaching the stutterer to use a speaking style that requires careful and prominent self-monitoring; examples of such therapy include one in which the stutterer slows his speech down and smoothes out all his words, This type of approach can reduce stuttering, although in children its effectiveness decreases if stuttering persists after eight years of age; Certain devices, known as fluency-shaping mechanisms, use this approach in an attempt to reduce stuttering. For example, delayed auditory feedback devices encourages the slowing down of speech by replaying the stutterer's words. The stutterer is then forced to slow her rate of speech to prevent distortions in the speech that is heard through the device. The effectiveness of such devices varies with stuttering severity.