5 Non-Speech Stuttering Activities for High School
We used to feel totally lost when it came to stuttering therapy with high schoolers. In the high school setting, it is rare to have stutterers on your caseload. We always felt out of practice and to be honest, a bit intimidated, when we got a stutterer on our caseloads.
Over time, with practice, through professional development presentations, and reading new literature surrounding stuttering, we changed the way we looked at stuttering therapy with high school students. We started spending less time on teaching “fluency strategies” (both fluency enhancing and stuttering modification) and a significantly increased amount of time on the emotional and behavioral aspects of stuttering.
All of a sudden, something clicked! We were making progress and our students were starting to feel more self-assured, confident, and accepting of their stutter. This led to them becoming overall better communicators, which in turn led to them succeeding both socially and academically.
Check out some of our favorite non-stuttering activities:
1.SELF-ADVOCACY LETTER TO TEACHERS
Have your students write a letter to their teachers informing them that they stutter (of course, you want to make sure your student is comfortable doing this before moving forward with the activity). Knowing their teacher is aware of their stutter and understanding how to best support them in the classroom will help your students feel more comfortable in their classes.
2.GOAL SETTING AND REFLECTION
Have your students set weekly goals each week and reflect on them when they return to your speech room. Did they make that phone call? Talk in a group of students in the lunchroom? Participate in class? How did they do? Help them reflect on their speaking experiences, stating what went well and what they can improve on next time.
3.RATE SPEAKING SCENARIOS
Rate their speaking scenarios from the least anxiety-producing to the most. Start at the bottom (least anxiety-producing speaking situation) and work your way up the ladder. You’d be surprised how many speaking scenarios your students confront on a daily basis.
4.SCRIPT AND PRACTICE SCENARIOS
Write a script and practice speaking situations such as calling a restaurant or making an appointment over the phone. Start with the easiest and work your way up to the harder situations. Remember, baby steps here will get you the best results!
5.JOURNALING
Provide a safe space for your students to write about their difficulties, wins, or self reflections as a stutterer. Provide a weekly prompt or allow them to freely write whatever comes into their heads. Encourage creativity and self-reflection. If students in the group are comfortable sharing, have them share and discuss with the other group members.
We love using these activities in our sessions and our students enjoy them too! If you like these ideas, check out our Fluency Digital Notebook for even more activities.
Are we missing anything? What are your favorite activities to utilize with your high school students who stutter?
