Why is stuttering a subject that is one, Saren Schapiro (Founder of SAGE Speech & Learning), is so passionate about?

When my daughter was 3, she began to show signs of stuttering. As a younger SLP, I knew where to seek information and resources.  As a parent with a first child, I was worried.  I took my daughter to local specialists, who were helpful, but unable to eliminate her stutter completely.  

Through some research, I happened upon the Lidcombe Program.  With some luck, I was able to find a friend in Montreal who was treated by Dr. Shenker of the Lidcombe Consortium.  I took my daughter to Dr. Shenker in Montreal, trained under her supervision, and completed the program successfully with my daughter.  

It was this positive, parent-friendly, and simple approach was life-changing for my family.  After a few more years of practice and training, and one fantastic weekend where SAGE Speech hosted Dr. Shenker in Atlanta for training, SAGE Speech is proud to be one of the only practices in Atlanta offering this approach.  

In addition, our national association, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) holds the Lidcombe Program as one of the treatments for Stuttering with the most evidence behind it.  

An excerpt from the ASHA website (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association):

About Stuttering:

We all have times when we do not speak smoothly. We may add "uh" or "you know" to what we say. Or, we may say a sound or word more than once. These disfluencies are normal if they happen occasionally. When it happens a lot, it may be stuttering.

People who stutter may have the following types of disfluencies:

• Blocks. This happens when you have a hard time getting a word out. You may pause for a long time or not be able to make a sound. For example, "I want a ...... cookie."
• Prolongations. You may stretch a sound out for a long time, like cooooooooooookie.
• Repetitions. You may repeat parts of words, like co-co-co-cookie.

Stuttering can change from day to day. You may have times when you are fluent and times when you stutter more. Stress or excitement can lead to more stuttering.

Stuttering is more than just the blocks or repetitions in your speech. It can also make you tense your body or struggle to talk. Stuttering may get in the way of how you talk to others. You may want to hide your stuttering. So, you may avoid certain words or refuse to talk in some situations. For example, you may not want to talk on the phone if that makes you stutter more.