“I don't know if that's what he wanted to ask me, but it's something everybody wants – for someone to see the hurt done to them and set it down like it matters.” (from The Secret Life of Bees, p 185, by Sue Monk Kidd)

Counseling in stuttering entails knowing what questions to ask the client, and when to talk and when to listen. Inside every person who stutters is a story; a story of their struggle and their pain resulting from experiences stuttering. Its the clinician's job to get the story out and show that it matters.

The therapeutic benefit of counseling comes in the interchange of information between the client and clinician. Each person experiences stuttering uniquely. The client has information about his or her perceptions, feelings, beliefs, emotions, history, knowledge, and experiences that are vitally important to the clinician to effectively assist the client in finding a successful resolution.

The clinician is a resource of knowledge, factual information, and an experience base in working with a variety of persons who stutter that the client can draw upon to change and progress. Together, the client and clinician work toward fabricating a foundation upon which therapy is based.

In this section of the website, basic elements of counseling are discussed as they may be applied to stuttering therapy. Another segment of the site provides information about feelings and emotions. This information is closely related with the counseling section. The following issues counseling can be accessed by clicking on the topic.

© Rentschler, 2005