Using Solution-Focused Principles With Older Children Who Stutter and Their Parents to Elicit Perspectives of Therapeutic Change

Abstract

Purpose We previously presented findings from pretherapy solution-focused interviews regarding the therapeutic best hopes of older children who stutter (CWS) and their parents. The current follow-up study explored the same clients' solution-focused reflections 1 year later with respect to their perspectives of what changes had occurred over the course of therapy. Method Seven CWS (11–14 years old) and 12 of their parents, who were interviewed in the original Berquez et al. (2015) study, were interviewed again 1 year after they started therapy. These clients responded to open-ended, solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT)–style questions and rating scales. Their responses were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed to identify what clients noticed had changed over the course of therapy. Result CWS and their parents reported changes spanning social communication abilities, cognitive-emotional skills, and speech management strategies. While these were consistent with their pretherapy best hopes, CWS and their parents identified additional, unexpected gains beyond the scope of what they originally hoped for at the beginning of therapy, including improvements in adaptive coping, academic experience, parent–child interactions, thoughts and feelings about stuttering, and personal growth. Conclusion SFBT can provide speech-language pathologists a framework for facilitating client reflections on positive signs of change that occur over the therapeutic process.