Avoidance Reduction Challenge
Weekly challenges that target word, situation and speaker avoidance directly.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Take one challenge a week and hold the student to it, then spend the session on what happened rather than on technique. The first two cards are the assessment — a student who cannot name a swapped word yet is not aware of their own avoidance, and awareness has to come before anything else. Say your own name first is often the hardest card here and worth saving until the student has some wins. Twenty minutes of honest debriefing beats a full session of fluency drills.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentAsk the question or set the task, then give the student time to answer or try it.Log as correct
- Open promptSay 'Tell me more about that' or 'What happened next?'Log as cued
- ChoicesOffer two ways it might have felt or gone, and let the student pick or correct you.Log as cued
- ModelShare your own example first, or do the task yourself before the student does.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use a feelings scale or picture choices, and start with the easiest situation.
Plan one real situation this week to try it in, and talk it through next session.
Matching IEP goal
Given discussion prompts and speaking tasks, Student will describe their thoughts or feelings about a speaking situation and name one helpful strategy in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Eight weekly challenges aimed at the part of stuttering that nobody else sees: name one word you swapped out today and say the original out loud now; name one situation you skipped this week because of speech; order the exact item you want, not the easy-to-say one; say your own name first, before anyone asks for it; use the phone once instead of texting. Fluency work that ignores avoidance leaves the most disabling part of the condition untouched.
What to listen for
Listen for the difference between a stutter and a swap. A student whose speech sounds fluent because they never say a hard word is not fluent, they are constrained, and the counts that matter are avoided words and avoided situations rather than disfluencies. The filler card is the quiet one worth taking seriously: a student who counts how often they use 'um', 'like' or 'so' to delay usually finds a number that surprises them. Watch for the last card — what would you do if stuttering weren't a factor — to start generating real answers, which is when the work has moved from technique to life.
Carrying it home
Families can help most by not rescuing. Ordering for a teenager, answering the phone for them, or finishing their sentence removes the exact opportunity the challenge needs. Ask them to wait, even when waiting is uncomfortable for everyone.
What's in this activity
- Name one word you swapped out today. Say the original out loud now.
- Name one situation you skipped this week because of speech.
- Order the exact item you want, not the easy-to-say one.
- Say your own name first, before anyone asks for it.
- Raise your hand once in the class where you usually stay quiet.
- Use the phone once instead of texting.
- Notice a filler you use to delay ('um', 'like', 'so'). Count them for a day.
- What would you do this week if stuttering weren't a factor? Pick one and do it.
Questions
- Is this instead of fluency techniques?
- Alongside them. Techniques change how a moment of stuttering goes; avoidance reduction changes how much of a life stuttering takes up, and the second is often what the student most wants.
- Do I need an account?
- No — the challenges are free to read and use with no login.
- What ages is it for?
- Ninth through twelfth grade. Avoidance is usually well established by then, and older students can reflect on it in a way younger ones often cannot.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.