Stuttering

Chapter 16 • Treatment of Adolescents: Advanced Stuttering 365

Adolescence: Period of development, roughly from 10 to 24 years of age, where brain-body-behavior changes are rapidly underway, which primes young people for learning, renders them highly sensi tive to social experiences, and promotes desire for independence Affirmations: Positive statements about the client’s characteristics or behaviors that help reinforce change behaviors Bibliotherapy: Using published literature about stuttering to help clients better understand their own experiences Change : Overt and covert behaviors that are personally important to the client; for many adolescents who stutter, it involves (1) learning ways to talk and stutter more easily, (2) developing more positive thoughts and feelings about stuttering, and (3) reducing avoidances Change journey: The process that a client goes through as they learn new ways to think about and act upon stuttering Cinematherapy: Using films about stutter ing to help clients better understand their own experiences Comfort zone: Situations in which one feels equipped to readily act and succeed; can be expanded by taking small steps just outside one’s comfort zone Defusion: Separating oneself from one’s thoughts by looking at thoughts rather than engaging or embodying them; one of the six principles of ACT Disclosure: Sharing with others the fact that one stutters Easing out: When in a moment of stut tering, releasing tension and gently and mindfully transitioning to the next sound Hierarchy: Stepwise progression through linguistic and situational contexts of increasing difficulty used to help clients generalize new behaviors Holding and tolerating: Volitionally con tinuing to hold tension in a moment of stuttering for longer than usual to de sensitize the person to difficult feelings that arise in that moment and to develop behavioral self-awareness in the moment Motivational interviewing: Strengthen ing the client's motivation for and com mitment to their goals by eliciting and exploring their own reasons for change

Mindfulness: Staying in the present mo ment and being nonjudgmentally aware of present moment experiences Safe stuttering space: A situation or con text in which the client feels that the environment is open to and accepting of stuttering Solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT): A style of counseling that focuses on the client’s strengths and resources for change that is important to them, rather than focusing on their problems Stages of change: Five discrete phases of readiness to change that people move through dynamically as they shift how they think about a target behavior Strengths: Personal attributes that help the client make value-driven decisions in their everyday life Struggle: Avoidance and escape behaviors that interfere with the speaker’s ability to move directly into, and stay easily within, stutters Therapeutic alliance: Unwavering rapport between the client and clinician that is based on a mutual trust and respect; it develops from the clinician’s curiosity about the client’s experience with stutter ing and showing that “it’s ok to stutter” through their mindful use of accepting verbal and nonverbal language Thinking traps: Processing information in a negative way where the person can feel “trapped” in a cycle of negative thinking Voluntary stuttering: When a stutterer or nonstutterer imitates a moment of stut tering; also known as pseudostuttering or stuttering on purpose

INTRODUCTION This chapter will introduce you to the unique aspects of stut tering therapy with adolescents. You have already learned some ways to establish a strong therapeutic relationship with your client, and this is arguably the most important aspect of adolescent stuttering therapy. Adolescents thrive on feel ing heard and validated, so your primary responsibility is to situate your adolescent client in the metaphorical driver’s seat as you listen deeply and validate their experiences from the passenger’s side. This foundation of unwavering rapport will help your adolescent client feel safe, valued, empowered, and socially connected. And from here, change is possible. Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer, Inc. Unauthorized reproduction of the content is prohibited.