Fluency Friday Plus: 2005

Speech-Language Pathologists in the Cincinnati community along with graduate students from Miami University and the University of Cincinnati attended a workshop November 3rd on “School Age Stuttering Therapy: Becoming More Confident, Comfortable and Effective” given by Nina Reardon, M.S. CCC-SLP, Board Recognized Fluency Specialist. This workshop “kicked off” the fifth Fluency Friday Plus project.

On November 4th & 5th, the graduate students provided individual and group treatment sessions for 54 children/teens with stuttering ages 5 through 18 at the Fluency Friday Plus project held at Mercy Healthplex in Fairfield, Ohio. Experienced Speech-Language Pathologists in the Cincinnati area supervised treatment sessions.

The theme this year was “Create Your Future” using characters from Star Wars to help teach concepts. Attitudes and Emotions group sessions were held to discuss the difficult aspects of dealing with stuttering including teasing, embarrassment and anxiety. The children/teens participated in games and role playing to evaluate emotions and generate solutions to deal with difficult speaking situations related to stuttering.

To practice their skills, the children/teens developed skits at the end of Friday to perform in front of the entire group. They told jokes during Open Microphone during lunch on Friday. On Saturday morning, they participated in a Conversational Breakfast where they visited 10 Talking Stations earning raffle tickets for gift baskets.

Sessions were scheduled for the parents while their children/teens were in the treatment program at Fluency Friday Plus. The parents listened to sessions led by Nina Reardon, Donna Cooperman & Rod Gabel dealing with the role of parents as counselors as well as suggestions to integrate the school, family and friends into the treatment process. A panel of members of the FFP planning team discussed such issues as obtaining school services, insurance resources, handling difficult situations and what to expect from treatment. A Teen Panel answered parents’ questions and gave opinions on various issues concerning stuttering. On Saturday, adults who stutter shared painful and positive experiences/reactions to their stuttering from parents, teachers and friends.

This year, a special session was held on Saturday morning for the siblings of the children/teens who participated in FFP. Role playing of “Time Pressure” situations provided the siblings with “hands on” practice of how interruptions can impact stuttering. The siblings asked questions, discussed their concerns and wrote letters or made drawings for their brother or sister who stutters.

FFP 2005 Summary - a detailed account of the event

2005 Presentation - "Create Your Future" - See the Star Wars Theme in the Intro Presentation from FFP 2005

Fluency Friday Plus: Looking Back

Fluency Friday Plus has more than doubled in size since its inaugural weekend in 2001! See how we've grown over the years:

Read about each year's event in these summaries:

FFP 2004	FFP 2002
FFP 2003	FFP 2001