Ages: 12 – 17

Grades: 7 – 12

Fifty picture scenes illustrate common preteen/adolescent themes and familiar fluency disruptors. Addressing these commonalities will increase student's participation and interest. Stimulus items on the back of each card reflect a well-designed fluency program.

Cards are organized in a hierarchy of fluency skills with easier skills addressed in the beginning sets. Each strategy is taught in small, progressive steps using sets of 3-6 cards. Choose a starting point based on the student's therapy goals/ability level. The last set of cards target transfer and maintenance skills.

Eleven solid treatment strategies and principles come together so students learn how, when, and why to use them to improve the amount of fluent speech.

• Cards 1-5: Establishing Fluency Through Increasingly Longer and More Complex Utterances Over-exaggerated mouth movements and slow talking rate set the stage for future success. Students learn to make their speech sound like one, big connected unit.
• Cards 6-9: Regulating/Controlling the Breath Stream Mastering breath support/control is critical to fluency growth. These exercises are not intended to replicate normal speech but form the foundation for increasing fluency.
• Cards 10-14: Establishing Light Articulatory Contact Using light articulatory contacts helps the student reduce tension in his speech. This can lead to decreasing the length of time he holds a sound (e.g.," t-t-t-t-table") or recovers from a speech block.
• Cards 15-19: Controlling Speaking Rate Students learn the effect of speaking rate on the fluency of their speech and their ability to use strategies when they stutter.
• Cards 20-24: Oral Planning and Coordination Learning to imagine or visualize being successful in speaking situations is the goal of this set.
• Cards 25-27: Desensitization Your student will realize his strengths and weaknesses so he can manage his stuttering moments. Using multiple techniques, he learns to worry less about stuttering and more about building confidence to continue speaking during and after stuttering moments.
• Cards 28-31: Modifying the Stuttering Moment These exercises will teach your student how to change his stuttering and decrease his frustration.
• Cards 32-35: Reduction of Word Avoidance Behaviors This set of exercises helps your student decrease his fear of difficult words or situations.
• Cards 36-40: Self-Awareness and Self-Monitoring During these exercises, your student talks about how he stutters and the places/situations, words, phrases, and sounds that are particularly difficult for him. Your student takes ownership of and monitors his speech independently.
• Cards 41-44: Positive Attitude Toward Self and Communication Help your student recognize and embrace his uniqueness, become proud of himself, and realize his stuttering does not control his ability to speak.
• Cards 45-50: Transfer and Maintenance Motivate your student to work on his speech skills at school, home, and in his community with these activities.

Includes 50 double-sided coated picture/stimuli cards (8-1/2” x 11”), instructions and answer key, all in a vinyl folder.