About FFP

What is Fluency Friday Plus?
By Diane Games, Coordinator

Fluency Friday Plus (FFP) is an intensive day and one half treatment program for children with stuttering disorders, K-12th grade. FFP combines supervised treatment experience for graduate students, parent/family education and continuing education opportunities for community Speech-Language Pathologists. This project is a collaborative effort involving speech/language professionals in the greater Cincinnati area including university, private practice, hospital and educational work settings. Community speech-language pathologists from each of these settings supervise graduate students from Miami University and the University of Cincinnati who provide the direct treatment during the program. The students receive training from the FFP organizational team in addition to completing a course on fluency disorders at the graduate level. In addition, community professionals attending training programs earn continuing education hours in fluency and fluency disorders.

A Parent Program includes speakers, group discussions and a teen panel. Siblings and friends join the program on Saturday to learn more about stuttering. The treatment program for the children and teens provides opportunities for practice utilizing fluency enhancing strategies taught in the therapy sessions. Group interactions include a range of discussion topics such as teasing and speaking in front of groups. The treatment programs include skits and group activities that allow for speaking and non-speaking roles. Throughout the program, communication attempts, regardless of outcome, are encouraged. Risk taking is valued and promoted!

An educational program for parents and extended family members provides opportunities for parents to enter into discussions on topics of interest. Lectures by experts in the field of fluency disorders are scheduled. Donna Cooperman Ed.D. and faculty from St. Rose College, Albany, New York has presented to our parents during four of the last FFP programs. Rodney Gabel, Ph.D., Bowling Green University, has also lead teen and adult focus groups in addition to speaking about his personal experience with stuttering. A tradition of FFP is the Teen Panel where a group of teens meet with the parents to answer questions and to share their experiences as young people who stutter. This forum enables the teens to speak freely to a large, “listener friendly” audience who respects their courage and values their insights. In addition, break out sessions deal with topics of interest for parents. These sessions include topics such as School Services for CWS, Helping Your Child Handle Difficult Situations, The “latest” in Treatment Techniques, and Insurance and other Resources for obtaining services. Members of the FFP team lead these discussions.

A major benefit of FFP is the collaboration of children and families to share personal experiences. In addition, feedback from referring clinicians indicates that the children/teens improve in their willingness to take risks in speaking and in their understanding of the disorder of stuttering. The experience of working with the children helps the graduate students gain a better understanding of the complexity of the disorder and the synergistic relationship of the factors involved in diagnosis and treatment. Publicity and promotion of the event leads to increased awareness of the disorder of stuttering in the community in general. Through exposure to the project, professional workshops and community presentations result. A major impact of the event is the development of a network of professionals who are highly committed to both the treatment of children who stutter and the exploration of innovative treatment and training options.