WHAT IS STUTTERING MODIFICATION THERAPY?
The goal of stuttering modification therapy is not to eliminate stuttering. Instead, the goals are to modify your moments of stuttering, so that your stuttering is less severe; and reduce your fear of stuttering, while eliminating avoidance behaviors associated with this fear. Unlike fluency shaping therapy, stuttering modification therapy assumes that adult stutterers will never be able to speak fluently, so the goal is to be an effective communicator despite stuttering. Stuttering modification therapy has four stages: • In the first stage, called identification, the stutterer and clinician identify the core behaviors, secondary behaviors, and feelings and attitudes that characterize your stuttering. • In the second stage, called desensitization, the stutterer tells people that he is a stutterer, freezes core behaviors, and intentionally stutters (“voluntary stuttering”). • In the third stage, called modification, the stutterer learns easy stuttering. This is done by cancellations (st
