Practical Thoughts Blog
Aug 21, 2019
Is there an app that can count disfluencies for me?
Counting disfluencies is time-consuming and not terribly reliable. Wouldn't it be nice if this could be done automatically?
Jul 31, 2019
How do I know if treatment is indicated for a young child who stutters?
Determining whether a young child who stutters needs therapy is complicated by the fact that most children who stutter in the preschool years actually recover on their own. By focusing on key risk factors, we can make evidence-based decisions about when treatment is most likely to be needed.
Apr 24, 2019
How do I score the Stuttering Severity Instrument? (SSI)
Scoring the Stuttering Severity Instrument can sometimes be confusing...do you count just instances of stuttering or all disfluencies? What "counts" as a moment of stuttering, anyway? Read on to find out!
Mar 07, 2019
How do I write IEP goals for preschool children who stutter?
Writing IEP goals for preschool and young school-age children who stutter presents a unique challenge for clinicians, because most of the early therapy is done with and through the parents. Learn how to handle this by writing goals for both less-direct and more-direct aspects of therapy.
Mar 05, 2019
Don’t just tell parents to “wait and see what happens!”
J. Scott Yaruss has a lot of pet peeves. One of them is when speech-language pathologists tell parents of young children who stutter to just "wait and see what happens." Read this blog post to find out why!
Dec 01, 2018
Why don’t we write goals about fluency?
Writing IEP goals presents a unique challenge for clinicians working with children who stutter. In this blog post, Dr. Yaruss argues that we should not be writing goals based on fluency. Click to find out why!
Nov 08, 2018
How do I screen a preschooler or young school-age child who stutters?
Clinicians are often asked to do informal evaluations of a young child who may or may not be stuttering. This post from Dr. Yaruss describes what to look for and how to decide if a full evaluation is needed.
Aug 28, 2018
Answering SLP SUMMIT Questions
What a wonderful time I had presenting at the 2018 SLP SUMMIT! Thank you for submitting so many questions during and after the presentation...This is the place to find answers!
Jul 22, 2018
Countering the Top 3 Myths About Stuttering
Yes, you've heard them - the big myths about stuttering. In this post, Nina handles 3 of the biggest, with some practical thoughts about how you can help to set the record straight!
May 07, 2018
What if a school-age child is not aware of stuttering?
For years, clinicians have been afraid to "draw attention" to stuttering for fear that they might "create awareness" that the child stutters. But what if we need to create that awareness so that the child can address his communication difficulties?
May 05, 2018
Even More Thoughts about Secondary Characteristics...
Secondary characteristics, such as eye blinks or head movements, are a highly visible aspect of the stuttering behavior. We often need to address them in therapy, but how to do that isn't as obvious as it seems...
Apr 02, 2018
Measuring adverse impact in a child whose stuttering seems to be "mild"
Stuttering is more than just stuttering, and measuring the impact of stuttering involves more than just counting the number of stuttering events a person exhibits. To truly understand the speaker's experience, we need to measure adverse impact.
