A group therapy for school-aged children who stutter teaching Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and fluency skills

There will be 2-3 groups with between 4-6 children in each group. The groups will be held weekly for 1 hour for a period of 7 weeks. The groups will be held face-to-face at a speech pathology clinic. Group Treatment Protocol The group treatment program will be facilitated by student speech pathologists, overseen by an experienced Clinical Educator. Sessions will include initial ice-breaker activities to establish rapport and the creation of group communication rules. Fluency techniques will be introduced, and participants will be encouraged to practice these techniques in pairs, with feedback being provided to the participants. During the series of treatment sessions, principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), will be covered. Examples include coping strategies, the cognitive cycle and defusion. Each session will end with participants summarising the session and establishing goals for the following session. Session Objectives: 1. Build rapport using ice-breaker games. 2. Establish group communication rules. 3. Introduce fluency techniques. 4. Practice fluence techniques in pairs. 5. Coping strategies for hard speech days. 6. The cognitive cycle, distinguishing between thoughts and feelings. 7. Fusion vs defusion, including defusion strategies. 8. Summarise session. 9. Establish individual and group goals for the following session. Treating clinicians will complete a group checklist for each child indicating attendance and what aspects of the session they participated in each week. It is expected that the children will spend between 10 – 15 minutes per day practicing the fluency techniques at home. They are also requested to engage in some self-reflection tasks as part of their homework. Children will be provided with a homework diary to fill in when they complete their home practice (date of homework, what they did, any issues encountered).