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From: Charlie Healey
Date: 15 Oct 2007
Time: 06:47:32 -0500
Remote Name: 76.84.69.211
Megan: Thanks for reading my article and the comments you made. You ask a very good question about what I say to parents or clients about how long therapy will take. In fact, I was confronted with that question just the other day from an adult who stutters that I am beginning treatment with. Here is my typical answer. The therapy will take as long as it needs to take to change the things that need to be changed. In other words, there is no way to say that therapy will last "X" number of sessions or take "X" number of months. Every situation is different and I tell the client that we will keep working until there reaches a point where we all think that therapy is not having any impact. That has to be a joint decision but for adult clients, I leave it up to them. I ask children, parents, and adults how they think therapy is going and if we need to stop, change directions, or something else. So, the bottom line is that there is no set timeline for how long therapy will last but you have to keep the topic open for discussion at periodic intervals during the course of treatment.