Stuttering treatment for adults: your options

What can stuttering treatment for adults do, and what can't it do?

Let's start with the honest part: there is no cure for stuttering. Stuttering in adults rarely disappears on its own, and no treatment can promise that you'll never stutter again. If anyone promises you that, be sceptical.

What treatment can do is give you control. That might be techniques for the words that get stuck. It might be working on the fear and on everything you avoid. For most adults it's both, because stuttering is both what other people hear and everything you do to hide it. We've described that side in our guide to stuttering in adults.

The word treatment can be a little misleading. Whichever route you choose, it isn't something that is done to you. It's something you practise yourself.

A speech and language therapist

A speech and language therapist is trained to work with speech and communication. The title varies from country to country (speech-language pathologist in the US, logopæd or logoped in Scandinavia), but for you as an adult who stutters, they do the same work in practice.

What is publicly available depends on the country you live in. Ask your GP or your local speech and language therapy service what help there is for adults who stutter and what it costs. In Denmark, for example, adults can get free stuttering therapy through their municipality. There are also therapists in private practice. Prices and waiting times vary from place to place, so ask before you say yes.

Therapy typically consists of conversations and exercises over a longer period. It suits you well if you want to work at your own pace, one to one, and would like time to practise between sessions. Ask how much experience the therapist has with adults who stutter. Not all of them work with it day to day.

You can read more in the article on a speech and language therapist for adults.

Intensive stuttering courses

On an intensive course you work on your speech for many hours at a stretch over a few days, usually alongside other people who stutter. You get to practise enough for the techniques to start to stick, and on some courses you try them out in real situations and not only in a room.

The downside is the same as the upside: it's intense. You have to be able to take time off, and you have to be ready to be challenged. And a course doesn't do it on its own. What you learn in a few days has to be practised afterwards. Otherwise you slide back into the old habits.

The McGuire Programme is a course of that kind. You can read what it's like day by day in the article on our stuttering course.

Self-help and community

You can get some of the way on your own, and it costs nothing to begin. These steps don't remove the stutter, but they change your direction, so that you walk into situations and not round them.

• Tell one person that you stutter. It eases the pressure when you no longer have to hide it.
• For one week, write down the words and situations you go round. Then you'll know what is actually taking up the room.
• Pick one small thing you usually avoid, and do it anyway. Order your own coffee. Make one phone call.
• Slow down. You're allowed to take your time, even when someone is waiting.

Many adults have never spoken to another person who stutters. Simply meeting someone who knows it from the inside can shift a great deal. A national stuttering association in your country, such as STAMMA in the UK, is a good place to find knowledge and meet others.

Self-help has its limits too. It's hard to change a habit you've had all your life without someone to show you how and keep you at it. That's why many people use the small steps as a beginning and look for therapy or a course afterwards.

How to choose the stuttering treatment that suits you

There isn't one right route, and the options don't rule each other out. Many people combine several. These questions can help you:

• What takes up the most room: the speech itself or everything you avoid? Choose something that works on what matters to you.
• Do you want to work alone with a professional, or together with other people who stutter?
• Do you need a steady process over time, or a few concentrated days?
• What happens afterwards? Always ask what support you get once the therapy or the course is over.
• How much are you ready to practise on your own? Whatever the method, it's your own practice that makes the difference.

Be honest, too, about what you've tried before. If you saw a speech and language therapist as a child and didn't get enough out of it, that doesn't mean nothing can help you. You're in a different place now, and this time you're the one choosing.

The McGuire Programme as one of the options

The McGuire Programme is an intensive course for anyone aged 14 or over who stutters. All the instructors stutter themselves and have been through the course. That's the biggest difference from the other options: you're taught by people who have stood where you're standing.

The course lasts four days, from Thursday 08:00 to Sunday 14:00, and the days can be up to 16 hours long. You learn a new way of breathing, you practise techniques for the words that get stuck, and you use all of it out in the real world: on the phone, in the street and in a public speech. Afterwards you get lifelong support and become part of a network. The price is DKK 18,000 as a one-off payment.

The goal isn't fluency. We call it eloquence: saying what you want to say, when you want to say it.

The course suits you if you're ready for four hard days and for practising every day afterwards. It's less of a fit if you're looking for a quick fix, or if you would rather work quietly one to one. You can see the upcoming courses in Aarhus, Malmö and Oslo on the front page.

Frequently asked questions