Counseling Overview

Counseling is the part of stuttering therapy that addresses the client's feelings, attitudes and emotions about stuttering. These personal components are frequently the 'sticking points' which inhibit risk-taking, openness to learning, and overcoming habitual patterns of stuttering. They are then, of critical importance to the successful outcome of therapy.

Counseling enables the clinician to learn how the client thinks about issues related to their stuttering, providing avenues through which the clinician may explain or offer different perspectives for the client to alter his or her thoughts and beliefs. Counseling in stuttering therapy may serve several purposes and address issues that include the following:

OFFERING INFORMATION
	Providing accurate information can clear up misconceptions and enable the client to progress to new levels. Good information can play a significant role in formulating realistic perspectives on stuttering.
	Feelings of embarrassment, guilt, hostility, shame or defensiveness can be spirited into cooperation and sharing.
	A chance to share what is known about stuttering and what is not yet fully understood.
MODIFYING THE ENVIRONMENT
	Teaching the client to perceive the environmental stimuli in more objective and productive ways that will decrease emotions and enhance fluency.
	Helping the client to find words to acknowledge their stuttering openly with others and educate listeners about stuttering.
FACILITATING INTERVENTION STRATEGIES
	Providing the philosophical framework upon which therapy is based.
	Developing independence - helping the client become their own clinician.
	Developing an internal locus of control; empowering the client to become responsible for their fluency.

HELPFUL TIPSy

Clinicians should not assume because they've said something once that the client has understood or accepted it. It usually takes multiple presentations, in a variety of ways, to begin to persuade the client of the value of your point.

Test the client's understanding and acceptance by their action and in their words.

Recognize what needs to be said at that moment. Read between the lines of your client's words to see their underlying wants and needs.

Be aware of your mannerisms when you talk with your client. Your posture, movements, eye contact and gestures can change how the client perceives your message.

You learn more from listening to the client speak than hearing yourself talk. Bombarding the client with words rarely changes their true feelings. You need to spend sufficient time listening to your client to understand their position; a precursor to facilitating change. Change happens slowly; clients need time to express how they feel -- whether they agree or disagree.

Counseling is generally the catalyst that enables progress to move to new levels. Often when a client exhibits difficulty with speaking techniques, it is because there are emotional issues which stand in the way that require counseling.

Counseling should be an ongoing part of the treatment program. In many instances, counseling is more important to a client's progress than the speech targets. Counseling is a form a salesmanship -- How can you change someone's thinking if you don't know what they think in the first place? Get to know the person, not just the problem.