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Using Essays in Therapy

Using essays in speech therapy is an effective way to help clients explore, discuss, and manage stuttering. While essays are useful, they are not always easy to locate and integrate into therapy plans. This paper directs the reader to essays that address five major focal points of speech therapy for people who stutter: It's OK to feel bad about stuttering, it's OK to feel better about it too, it's OK to speak (and to stutter), it's OK to modify your speech, and it’s OK—no, it’s a must—to go elsewhere with new skills. As each point is discussed, the reader is directed to essays that will facilitate discussing the idea during treatment. Author’s note In composing this paper, I borrowed liberally from my book (Williams, 2006), specifically the preface and the chapters on treatment and essays about stuttering. These portions are reprinted with the permission of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (https://www.erlbaum.com). As I note in my book’s (Williams, 2006) introduction, one day I was handed a story written by a colleague, who told me that his stuttering clients were thrilled at how they identified with the main character. Two things happened shortly thereafter.