I can visit children in their home, nursery, or school. I would strongly advise that the initial assessment appointment is carried out at home with parents/carers present.

This entirely depends on what your child’s individual needs are and your own needs as a family. After an assessment session, this often becomes much clearer. You may find that an assessment session, including your summary & advice report, feels sufficient and reassuring enough for you and your child. Other children and families may benefit from a block of up to 6 sessions to really support everyone’s understanding of stammering, how to provide confident support for your child, and to support your child’s wellbeing.

Stammering is caused by very small, subtle differences in the “speech wiring” of our brain. It is often genetic in cause so there may be other family members who stammer/ have stammered. It is absolutely not caused by parents/carers, it is not “learnt” or “copied” from others who stammer, it is not caused by being bilingual, and it is not a personality type, i.e., they stammer because they are “shy” or “nervous”.

Absolutely, yes! I can adapt my support around your child’s communication style and needs. Sometimes you may feel that other things take more priority for your child’s needs and wellbeing, above their stammer. This is fine, it needs to be the right time for you and your child.

Stammering is very variable by nature. You may hear your child stammering a lot for a period, followed by a period of very little or no stammering. Sometimes we may be able to pinpoint a reason for this because stammering is sensitive to lots of internal and external factors. Sometimes there may not be an obvious reason for an increase or decrease in stammering but we can continue to provide a supportive environment.

Examples of times you may hear more stammering includes:

a big change (school/house move, changes to the family)
-tiredness or illness
a certain situation or person that may be causing them anxiety or stress
feeling rushed or hurried
competing with others for a turn to speak and keep your attention
feeling excited! (Christmas can often bring about an increase in stammering)
having other speech, language, and communication needs or other diagnoses which impact on our learning and development.

About 8% (or 1 in 12) children will stammer at some point, often between ages 2-5, although some children may start later. Many of these children will go on to stop stammering. However, some children will continue stammering into adulthood. There is no definite way of knowing who will stop stammering and who will carry on stammering. Generally speaking, the longer a stammer has continued, the more likely it is that it will continue into adulthood. Many adults who stammer lead successful and happy lives!

Avoid asking children to slow down, start again, think about what they want to say, take a deep breath. Whilst very well meant, this advice can add to the frustration of talking. People who stammer know what they would like to say, it is very hard to slow our speech down, and starting again just adds to the pressure of talking.
Wait. Allow children the time and space they need to finish talking. Show them that they have your attention by keeping natural eye contact, smiling, bending down, nodding etc. Focus on WHAT they have said and not HOW they have said it.
Be open about stammering. You do not need to ignore it. This often creates a tension and anxiety around stammering. Let them know it is called a stammer and other people do it too, make time for talking about stammering and how it makes your child feel, acknowledge times when talking is hard for your child (e.g., “that was a tricky word wasn’t it? I will always wait for you to finish.”)

There are different types of therapy options for stammering, you can research these further at https://stamma.org/get-help/parents/children-stammering-therapy-courses

My therapy offer does not involve teaching strategies which aim to change speech patterns to reduce stammering and appear more “fluent” (speaking smoothly).

Some people who stammer may choose to use these strategies for certain occasions, and it is within everybody’s rights to choose the options which work best for them. However, the stammering research has shown us that changing speech to appear more fluent is often unsustainable and there can be considerable impacts on mental health. It is important to understand that there are no “cures” for stammering and a safe, responsible therapist or course should never make these claims.

My therapy offer focuses on supporting children’s wellbeing, enjoyable and confident communication, and building supportive environments. When we focus on these areas, talking often becomes easier and we hear confident and happy talkers, regardless of a stammer being present. We can do this by:

learning about stammering together
ensuring everybody feels confident to support children who stammer
building stammering friendly environments
building self-advocacy, resilience, emotional regulation, and self-care skills
raising awareness and acceptance of stammering through nursery/school training
outdoors wellbeing and friendship groups for children who stammer

FAQs for 1-1 Therapy

Where will you see my child?

How many sessions will my child need?

What causes stammering?

My child has other diagnoses or speech, language, and communication needs. Can you still support them with their stammer?

Why does my child’s stammer change so much?

Will my child stop stammering or carry on stammering?

What are your 3 top tips for helping children who stammer?

Will you work on reducing my child’s stammer?