Cancellation Practice
Cards to practice cancellation technique.
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
Practise it voluntarily first. Ask the student to stutter on purpose on baseball and then run the full stop-pause-re-say, because waiting for a real moment to rehearse a technique means very little rehearsal. The pause is the part most students shorten — it should feel too long — and the re-say should be slower and easier, not louder or more forceful. Twelve minutes covers the cards with time to build from single words to the phrases.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentThe student catches a stuttering moment and uses the technique on their own.Log as correct
- SignalUse a silent signal you agreed on after a moment the student let pass.Log as cued
- ReminderRemind them: 'Pause, then say it again slowly and easily.'Log as cued
- ModelPut a pretend stutter into your own speech and show the technique on it; the student copies.Log as cued
Adjust it
Practise on pretend stutters the student plans, before real ones.
Use the technique on real moments during a conversation, with no signal from you.
Matching IEP goal
During structured conversation, Student will use cancellation or pull-out on moments of stuttering in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than a nonverbal signal.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Twelve cards that each set up the same three-step move: if you stutter on this word, stop, pause, then re-say it slowly. The words and phrases run from single words — baseball, telephone, Saturday, computer, refrigerator — up to whole utterances like I want a sandwich, Can I have a turn? and See you tomorrow. Cancellation is a specific technique with a specific shape, and it needs practice material at both levels.
What to listen for
Watch the pause length. A cancellation without a real pause becomes a fast repetition, which is not the technique and does not change anything. Listen for the re-say being easier rather than more effortful; a student who re-says with more push has learned the shape and not the point. Notice whether the technique transfers to the sentence cards, since single words are much easier to cancel than running speech.
Carrying it home
This is a technique that needs a tolerant audience more than a practice partner. Ask the family to let a re-said word pass without comment, and to resist finishing the word during the pause, which is the most common and most understandable interruption.
What's in this activity
- If you stutter on this word, stop, pause, then re-say it slowly: baseball
- Stop, pause, and re-say: telephone
- Stop, pause, and re-say: my name is ___
- Stop, pause, and re-say: Saturday
- Stop, pause, and re-say: I want a sandwich.
- Stop, pause, and re-say: What time is it?
- Stop, pause, and re-say: computer
- Stop, pause, and re-say: Can I have a turn?
- Stop, pause, and re-say: birthday party
- Stop, pause, and re-say: I don't know.
- Stop, pause, and re-say: refrigerator
- Stop, pause, and re-say: See you tomorrow.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Fourth through eighth, where students can attend to their own speech mechanics without it becoming overwhelming.
- Do I need to sign up?
- No, all twelve cards play free in the browser.
- Should the student use this every time they stutter?
- No — it is too slow for that, and using it constantly makes conversation unmanageable. It is a tool for specific moments, and deciding which moments is part of the work.
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.