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ABOUT

Stuttering and Cluttering

What are they and how does Speech Bubbles treat them?

Stuttering

Stuttering is a condition in which a person experiences involuntary interruptions in their speech that could take the form of repetitions (e.g., spee-spee-speech or b-b-bubbles), prolongations (e.g., ssssspeech), or inaudible blocks that temporarily prevent them from forming the next sound. People who covertly stutter may have developed ways to “trick” their listeners into thinking they don’t stutter, but they still experience the underlying tension of stuttering and may spend much of their day avoiding situations where stuttering could occur.

Developmental stuttering happens to about 5% of all children, usually beginning between 2 and 5 years. It persists in about 1% of the population, meaning 20% of children who begin to stutter will continue to stutter throughout their lives and 80% will not.

For school-age children, teens and adults, my therapy approach is primarily focused on the thoughts and feelings of the person who stutters. Children learn very early that society prizes fluent speech, so they often develop coping mechanisms to hide their stutter such as using filler words (e.g., “um”), substituting words they don’t expect to stutter on, averting their eyes, or avoiding communication situations altogether. Parents, other family members, or even speech therapists can inadvertently reinforce these patterns by praising fluent speech, teaching fluency strategies without a critical lens, or giving advice that often doesn’t work (e.g., “Just slow down and take a breath”). Instead, I work with the client and their community to accept their stutter and validate all the feelings that it can engender – often these include frustration, guilt and shame. We learn why stuttering happens and talk about it openly, reducing its power and our fear. I work to connect children and adults alike with the stuttering community, a powerful resource to combat the isolation many people who stutter feel.

For preschoolers, my approach is not too different. Although I spend more time coaching parents on how they can shift their interactions with their children, the outcomes I’m reaching for are the same: understanding, accepting, and desensitizing ourselves to the stutter for all parties. For some preschoolers, the reduction in fear we achieve leads to less resistance to, and eventual dissolution of, the stutter itself. For all, if I do my job right, they develop a sense of confidence in their communication whether they continue to stutter or not, and the parents feel capable of supporting their children’s ups and downs.

See theResources pagefor more information about stuttering.

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Cluttering

Cluttering is a condition in which a person’s speech can be fast, disorganized, jerky, or generally unclear. Often, people may skip over whole words, parts of words, or jumble their sounds within longer words. They may pause in atypical places or emphasize unexpected syllables. It can be difficult to diagnose because there are many ways people can demonstrate cluttering, but also because people who clutter tend to be less aware of their speech differences, only knowing that others say they “talk too fast” or “don’t make sense.”

The foundation for cluttering therapy is building awareness of communication breakdowns, both broadly and for the client specifically. Children and adults alike can feel frustrated when listeners frequently ask them to repeat themselves, for example, but may not know why this happens or what to do about it. We develop functional repair strategies tailored to the client that range from intentionally paying attention to the listener’s facial expressions to slowing speech rate, changing the way we organize our messages, or enunciating so that every syllable of every word can be heard. Like many speech differences, there is no magic pill to “cure” cluttering, but there are ways to successfully manage it and make communication easier and more enjoyable for both the speaker and the listener.

See theResources pagefor more information about cluttering.

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About me

Alyssa Vildosola

Background

Alyssa (Aly) Vildósola, M.A., CCC-SLP grew up on Long Island and has been steadily moving west since. Her love of people and fascination with speech and language patterns drew her to the field of speech-language pathology, and she stayed when she learned stuttering therapy was not about “fixing,” but embracing who you are. She has worked at private practices and in public schools, but eventually felt it was time to start her own practice and prioritize her work with people who stutter. Aly is known for her voices, her avid love of sheep and trees, and her unconcealed enthusiasm for anything that matches. Aly is now based in Seattle and sees clients in-person or online in California and Washington.

Education

Aly received a B.A. in Cognitive Science/Educational Studies from Carleton College in Minnesota before heading to Colorado to earn an M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Colorado Boulder. She continues to regularly attend trainings to update her knowledge and therapy techniques.

Licenses + Certificates

Certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Licensed to practice in the state of California by the California board, #SP27632. Licensed to practice in the state of Washington by the Washington board, #LL61234172 Has attended trainings in Palin Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Solutions-Focused Brief Therapy, and Avoidance Reduction Therapy for Stuttering.