My Client Knows That He’s About to Stutter: How Can We Address Stuttering Anticipation during Therapy with Young People Who Stutter?

Authors

• Eric S. Jackson, New York UniversityFollow
• Hope Gerlach, University of IowaFollow
• Naomi H. Rodgers, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
• Patricia M. Zebrowski, University of IowaFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2018

Citation

Seminars in Speech and Language, 39(4), 356-370.

Comments

Copyright # 2018 by Thieme Medical Publisher. Used by permission.

Abstract

Stuttering anticipation is endorsed by many people who stutter as a core aspect of the stuttering experience. Anticipation is primarily a covert phenomenon and people who stutter respond to anticipation in a variety of ways. At the same time as anticipation occurs and develops internally, for many individuals the “knowing” or “feeling” that they are about to stutter is a primary contributor to the chronicity of the disorder. In this article, we offer a roadmap for both understanding the phenomenon of anticipation and its relevance to stuttering development. We introduce the Stuttering Anticipation Scale (SAS)—a 25-item clinical tool that can be used to explore a client’s internal experience of anticipation to drive goal development and clinical decision making.We ground this discussion in a hypothetical case study of “Ryan,” a 14-yearold who stutters, to demonstrate how clinicians might use the SAS to address anticipation in therapy with young people who stutter.