Free School Therapy

As the summer gets to a close, many of us have to ready ourselves for a whole new year of school. For those who stutter a lot this can be a very nervous situation. I understand. Know that you are not alone.

Depending on the situation, therapy at school can be of great help and comfort. I am surprised to hear that so many people are uninformed about this. I know that speech therapy can be quite expensive, and in hard economic times with increasing health costs, and insurance often not covering therapy, I think parents of stutterers can really appreciate this free benefit offered in so many schools.

Under federal law, public and private schools must provide special education services such as speech therapy to children, even preschoolers, who need them. Kids can have starting sessions where their problems and needs are evaluated and the system is explained to the parents, from which it they can decide whether to continue the therapy or not. Therapy usually takes place one or twice a week taking a break from class, all of which is decided with the parents and child. There are also progress reports to check how things are going from time to time. Of course, different schools can have different rules, policies, and methods so parents need to be assertive and get the information they want from their schools and see if their child is eligible.

I used to receive therapy at school. Though I must admit, those that work with you at school are not the same as outside therapists, because their field covers all sorts of speech and language problems and they might not be as experienced about stuttering as outside therapists who specialize on stuttering. However, for many people who stutter including me, they DO help! They are generally fun easy-going sessions that give you a chance to take a break from class and exercise your speech, while having the opportunity to work with other people at your school who also have speech impediments and talk about anything that interests you or troubles you. The therapists I have met have always been kind and comforting and I have developed some good friendships with the people I've work with. If I hadn't taken therapy at school, I would probably not have known that there were other stutterers at my school. At a time when I was insecure, frustrated, didn't know much about this speaking problem I had, and didn't have very many people to talk to, these sessions at school helped a lot and really did help me decrease my stuttering and deal with it in everyday life.

So it definitely is not as effective as real, outside, professional (and at times expensive) speech therapy from a therapist who specializes in stuttering, school therapy is certainly worth trying--and it's FREEEE!. I strongly advise all parents and kids who stutter to see if this is available at their school and check it out. Don't wait! If you are not satisfied, it is easy to pull out of it. There really is nothing to lose!

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