Mediations for Stuttering Reduction: Lessons from African American and Mexican-American Children

The purpose of the article is to provide clinicians examples of best practices for the remediation of stuttering in school-age children. The recommended approach to treatment is based on best practices as espoused in the professional literature (ASHA) and based on the author's seven years of research with over 40 African American, White, and Mexican-American children who stutter. The article is an outgrowth of a recent workshop presentation (NBASLH, 2006) and disseminates results of ongoing research to address the needs of children who exhibited chronic stuttering with little or no improvement resulting from school-based therapy. Recent case studies indicate that children, particularly those who experience limited success in school-based therapy, have significantly improved outcomes when stuttering modification or fluency-shaping approaches are combined with mediated learning strategies to promote cognitive change, family support, and learning transfer (Radford, Tanguma, Gonzalez, Nericcio, & Newman, 2005). A consistent theme throughout the article is that clinicians should adopt a view from the perspective of the speaker to promote clients' successful management of their stuttering (Plexico, Manning, & Dilollo, 2005). However, successful management should include strategies to reduce stuttering as the factor significant to disruption of communication, social isolation, and quality of life. Further, successful management may include prosthetic devices.