Minimizing Bullying for Children Who Stutter

Fortunately, there is much that speech-language pathologists and others can do minimize the occurrence and impact of bullying (Langevin & Prasad, 2012; Murphy, Quesal, Reardon-Reeves, & Yaruss, 2013). Bullying prevention programs involve strategies both for the child who stutters and for those in the child’s environment (Yaruss, Reeves, & Herring, 2018). For the child, key goals include education about and desensitization to stuttering and bullying, as well as practice with appropriate responses to bullying. Goals for the environment also include education about stuttering and bullying, as well as the establishment of an environment in which it is okay to be different but not okay to bully others. Preliminary research has demonstrated the effectiveness of these approaches, so clinicians should be alert to the possibility of bullying of their children who stutter and prepare themselves to incorporate anti-bullying efforts into their treatment.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and not of the International Fluency Association.

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