WHAT IS FLUENCY SHAPING THERAPY?
Fluency shaping therapy trains stutterers to speak fluently with relaxed breathing, vocal folds, and articulation (lips, jaw, and tongue). Stutterers are usually trained to breathe with their diaphragms, gently increase vocal fold tension at the beginning of words (gentle onsets), slow their speaking rate by stretching vowels, and reduce articulatory pressure. The result is slow, monotonic, but fluent speech. This abnormal-sounding speech is used only in the speech clinic. After the stutterer masters these target speech behaviors, speaking rate and prosody (emotional intonation) are increased, until the stutterer sounds normal. This normal-sounding, fluent speech is then transfered to daily life outside the speech clinic. A study followed 42 stutterers through the three-week fluency shaping program. The program included psychological treatment to reduce fears and avoidances, discussing stuttering openly, and changing social habits to increase speaking. The therapy program reduced stutt
