Can psychological therapies help young people who stammer?

For older children and young adults, a stammer is more likely to remain with them throughout their lives.

Psychological therapy does not work on a person’s speaking but instead focuses on helping to reduce the impact of the stammer on a person’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Some examples of psychological therapies that are used in the management of young people who stammer, include Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) and Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP). These approaches can be helpful options for dealing with the impact a stammer, such as social anxiety, isolation, self-advocacy and coping strategies.

Some Speech and Language Therapists have additional training in these approaches or will be able to refer on to other professionals.