School-Age Stuttering

At the Chicago Stuttering Center, we support school-age children and their families with individualized care meeting their unique needs. Our long-term goal is always supporting your child in their growth as an effective and confident communicator.

We focus on the areas of education, awareness, management strategies, and advocacy to set your child up for success at school, at home, and out in the world. Effective therapy at this age includes teaching the child social-emotional, cognitive, and speech-motor strategies to help problem-solve and encourage strong communication skills.

What does therapy for school-age children look like?

Some common ideas and situations we explore in therapy are:

  • learning about the speech machine and stuttering
  • teaching tools for effective communication
  • encouraging and supporting participation at school and at home
  • reducing secondary behaviors, negative reactions towards speaking, and avoidance
  • managing other neurodiversities along with stuttering, such as ADHD and autism
  • school-related issues, such as making friends, bullying, presentations, and talking in school