Stammer, Expressive Language Difficulties and Low Volume Voice

In the interest of safeguarding, the child has been referred to as ‘Tom’ throughout the case study.

Olivia, one of our SLTs, has been providing intervention for Tom since December 2021. Tom is currently in Year 1, and Olivia has been working with their primary school since September 2021.

Background

Tom first came to us with a stammer, expressive language difficulties and low volume voice. He has difficulty expressing himself fully as an impact of these difficulties. Others may sometimes find it hard to understand him. His stammer is inconsistent and only presents itself sometimes. 

How did Chatterbug help? 

We began by assessing Tom with a range of formal and informal assessments, including an open discussion and gathering case history from parents. They could then inform us of any concerns or patterns they had noticed. We followed this up with a talk with his teachers so we could understand how they function within the classroom. 

To help build Tom’s language skills, we worked on colourful semantics within the therapy sessions and demonstrated to his teachers how to implement this in the classroom to aid their learning. The teachers now have strategies to support Tom’s stammer when it is present. 

Tom created a personal volume chart that catered to his communication needs with Olivia’s support. We provided photocopies, so he had a personal, a classroom and a home chart. We demonstrated to parents and teachers how to use it, meaning he had support at all times! Both groups have advised that this has been a very successful strategy in his speech, language and communication development. 

Client’s progress to date

Since attending therapy with Olivia, Tom has achieved the ability to expand his sentences to include the correct grammar forms and vocabulary. He is now able to create sentences with five elements:

• Who
• What doing
• Where
• When
• Additional details

Using this, he can now make his needs known effectively and express himself to adults and other children. 

Tom has also been given the correct tools for self-regulating his volume. His parents and teachers can also use this to refer back and support him where necessary! 

These tools and targets have aided him to engage in situations such as class discussions, presenting in school, and confidence in speaking socially.

Get in touch

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