What do you mean, fluency?
"Fluency is the aspect of speech production that refers to continuity, smoothness, rate, and effort. Stuttering, the most common fluency disorder, is an interruption in the flow of speaking characterized by repetitions (sounds, syllables, words, phrases), sound prolongations, blocks, interjections, and revisions, which may affect the rate and rhythm of speech. These disfluencies may be accompanied by physical tension, negative reactions, secondary behaviors, and avoidance of sounds, words, or speaking situations (ASHA, 1993; Yaruss, 1998; Yaruss, 2004). Cluttering, another fluency disorder, is characterized by a perceived rapid and/or irregular speech rate, which results in breakdowns in speech clarity and/or fluency (St. Louis & Schulte, 2011)."
“Childhood Fluency Disorders: Overview.” American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, ASHA, www.asha.org/PRPSpecificTopic.aspx?folderid=8589935336§ion=Overview.
Types of Stuttering
Strategies
In fluency therapy, there are two main types of strategies used: fluency enhancing strategies and stuttering modification strategies.
"Fluency is the aspect of speech production that refers to continuity, smoothness, rate, and effort. Stuttering, the most common fluency disorder, is an interruption in the flow of speaking characterized by repetitions (sounds, syllables, words, phrases), sound prolongations, blocks, interjections, and revisions, which may affect the rate and rhythm of speech. These disfluencies may be accompanied by physical tension, negative reactions, secondary behaviors, and avoidance of sounds, words, or speaking situations (ASHA, 1993; Yaruss, 1998; Yaruss, 2004). Cluttering, another fluency disorder, is characterized by a perceived rapid and/or irregular speech rate, which results in breakdowns in speech clarity and/or fluency (St. Louis & Schulte, 2011)."
“Childhood Fluency Disorders: Overview.” American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, ASHA, www.asha.org/PRPSpecificTopic.aspx?folderid=8589935336§ion=Overview.
Types of Stuttering
- Repetitions
- Monosyllabic whole-word repetitions (who-who-who is it?)
- Part-word or sound repetitions (t-t-take it to the store)
- Prolongations (sssssee how they run)
- Blocks (audible or silent blocking as characterized by filled or unfilled pauses in speech within or between words)
Strategies
In fluency therapy, there are two main types of strategies used: fluency enhancing strategies and stuttering modification strategies.
Fluency Enhancing Strategies
Fluency enhancing strategies intend to prevent dysfluencies in changing the way the person talks. Goals for these techniques may include change breath flow, speech rate, voice production, and articulation. Examples of fluency enhancing techniques include but are not limited to:
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Stuttering Modification Strategies
Stuttering modification techniques intend to work in and around stuttering moments. Goals for these techniques may include increase awareness, explore and decrease tension, reduce struggle behaviors, stutter in a more relaxed way, decrease sensitivity, and increase feelings of control. Examples of stuttering modification techniques include but are not limited to:
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These strategies are just one part of a multi-dimensional approach to stuttering therapy. Effective speech and language therapy often uses a combination of these strategies and must also address cognitive, affective, linguistic, and social factors and grow to include friends, teachers, and family.