SAY: The Stuttering Association for the Young is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides support, advocacy, and life-changing resources for young people who stutter, ages 5-18. For 25 years, SAY has offered comprehensive and innovative programs that address the physical, social, and emotional impacts of stuttering. Through summer camp, regional day camps, speech therapy, and creative arts programming, SAY builds a community of acceptance, friendship, and encouragement where young people who stutter can develop the confidence and communication skills they need to thrive.

SAY’s initiatives extend beyond direct support for young people, aiming to enhance the skills and knowledge of professionals working with children who stutter. One such initiative is our school-based speech therapy outreach program, designed to equip speech therapists with the resources, mentorship, and training they need to work with students who stutter confidently.

History of Speech Therapy for Students Who Stutter

Speech therapists consistently report a lack of training and knowledge to confidently work with children who stutter. This issue begins in graduate school, where speech therapist master’s students report minimal training and coursework, as well as limited direct clinical experience with people who stutter (Santus et al., 2019; Yaruss et al., 2017). These feelings are also reported among licensed speech pathologists, including school-based clinicians, who report they have limited academic and clinical training in the area of stuttering (Gabel, 2013; Tellis et al., 2008). Peer mentorship has been suggested as one potential option for increasing the competency and confidence of speech therapists when treating and assessing children who stutter (Kelly et al., 2020).

NYC Public Schools Partnership

Brooke Leiman Edwards, Director of SAY: Speech, has partnered with NYC Schools to support speech therapists with resources, mentorship, and training to empower students who stutter in school settings. This partnership aims to increase the confidence of school-based speech therapists and improve the quality of care for students who stutter within the public school system. This program is dedicated to providing free and accessible resources and support for school-based speech therapists working with students who stutter in the public school system. This can be accomplished by providing clinicians with access to:

• A live or recorded webinar that focuses on the foundations of providing evaluations and treatment for students who stutter
• District therapist meetings with presentations from a person who stutters and a speech therapist.
• Clinical resources (ex., informative hand-outs and templates for evaluating or providing stuttering therapy)
• 1:1 monthly “office hours” for clinicians to meet with a board-certified stuttering specialist

How does a school district take advantage of the SAY: Speech School-Based Stuttering Speech Therapy Outreach Program?

The program requires minimal time or resources from the school district itself. SAY: Speech will independently develop and maintain all resources and “office hours” registrations. The only requirement is one liaison from the school district to serve as the point person for posting and disseminating outreach resources and links, ensuring clinicians have access. This typically requires 1-3 meetings with the liaison per school year to ensure the program is running efficiently.

Additional meetings can always be scheduled to ensure the school district feels comfortable with the resources being provided. This program was piloted with the New York City Department of Education. School districts can easily obtain more information about this outreach program by contacting the director of SAY: Speech, Brooke Edwards, MA, CCC-SLP, BCS-SCF, at Brooke@SAY.org to inquire if the program is currently accepting new school districts. For funders interested in learning how to support SAY and this program, please get in touch with SAY’s Executive Director, Russell Krumnow, at Russell@SAY.org.

Resources:

1. Gabel, R. M. (2014). School speech-language pathologists’ experiences with stuttering: An Ohio survey. eHearsay, 3(3), 5-29.
2. Kelly, E. M., Singer, C. M., Henderson, J. K., & Shaw, K. O. (2020). Stuttering practice self-assessment by school speech-language practitioners. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 51(4), 1156-1171.
3. Santus, N., Tellis, G., Kong, F., Santus, N., Tellis, G., & Kong, F. (2019). Are graduate students receiving adequate education and training in fluency disorders? Clinical Archives of Communication Disorders, 4(3), 236-251.
4. Tellis, G. M., Bressler, L., & Emerick, K. (2008). An exploration of clinicians’ views about assessment and treatment of stuttering. Perspectives on Fluency and Fluency Disorders, 18(1), 16-23.
5. Yaruss, J. S., Lee, J., Kikani, K. B., Leslie, P., Herring, C., Ramachandar, S., … & McNeil, M. R. (2017). Update on didactic and clinical education in fluency disorders: 2013–2014. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 26(1), 124-137.