Treating School-Age Children Who Stutter - Objectives & Activities

	Craig E. Coleman is a Clinical Coordinator at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and Co-Director of the Stuttering Center of Western Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the University of Pittsburgh. Craig is a member of the National Insurance Advocacy Initiative and Chair of the National Stuttering Association's Insurance Advocacy Committee. In addition, Craig is an elected member of the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) Legislative Council. Craig provides clinical service to preschool, school-age, and adolescent children who stutter and is involved in clinical research activities.
	Amy Zerhusen is a speech-language pathologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Amy conducts evaluations and provides clinical service to preschool, school-age, and adolescent children who stutter.
	Rebecca L. Roccon is a speech-language pathologist at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh - North. She received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees at Duquesne University. Rebecca conducts evaluations and provides clinical service to preschool, school-age, and adolescent children who stutter.

Treating School-Age Children Who Stutter: Objectives and Activities

By Craig Coleman and Rebecca Roccon (Pennsylvania, USA) and Amy Zerhusen (Ohio, USA)

Writing appropriate treatment goals is critical for success in any treatment program. Often, goals written for children who stutter amount to little more than "Johnny will speak fluently 80% of the timel". Goals such as these are not useful. First, the child could be stuttering 20% of the time and still meeting the goal. Second, the goal targets only the reduction in number of disfluencies without addressing how the child will be able to achieve this reduction. This powerpoint and handout encourage clinicians to write goals that target all aspects of stuttering, not just the number of observable speech disfluencies. The powerpoint provides an overview of goals and activities for school-age children who stutter. The second resource is a handout in PDF format gives specific examples of goals that can be written to target the entire stuttering disorder.

These materials were originally prepared by the authors for the 2004 Pennsylvania Speech-Language and Hearing Association convention and may be useful especially for individual clinicians who work with children who stutter or can be adapted (with proper attribution) for discussion by small groups of clinicians. Student clinicians and interns working with children who stutter will find therapy ideas for their clients and parents of children who stutter may find appropriate ideas for IEP meetings with their child's IEP team.

Powerpoint: Treatment School-Age Children Who Stutter: Objectives and Activities
Handout: Writing Goals and Objectives