Meet Them Where They're At: Maximizing Adolescents' Engagement in Stuttering Therapy

Abstract

Adolescents who stutter often pose a unique clinical challenge for clinicians. They are a population simultaneously striving for independence from adults and social connection with their peers at a time when social fears surge and lifelong habits take root. It is a time when they may seem “unmotivated” to learn and utilize new communication or coping skills related to stuttering. How can clinicians maximize adolescents' engagement in stuttering therapy to improve meaningful outcomes? The purpose of this article is to describe a transtheoretical approach to assessing adolescents' readiness to make positive changes to living with stuttering, and to provide motivational interviewing strategies that clinicians can employ to help propel adolescents toward personally significant change. These principles will be applied to the case study of a 14-year-old who stutters to demonstrate how clinicians can put this approach to work as they meet their adolescent clients “where they're at.”