About this activity
Ten speech samples sorted into smooth and bumpy: I want a cookie, Can I go outside?, My name is Sam, Let's play and That's mine are smooth; the same five with repetitions, prolongations and blocks — I w-w-want a cookie, Lllllet's play, Th— th— that's mine — are bumpy. Using the same sentences twice is the design, since the only difference is the fluency.
How to use it in a session
Produce both versions yourself and let the child sort. Judging someone else's speech is far easier and far less exposing than judging their own, and identification has to come before any modification technique — a child who cannot tell smooth from bumpy has no way to know when a technique worked. Once sorting your speech is reliable, have them produce a bumpy version deliberately, which is a genuinely useful and surprisingly freeing thing to do.
What to listen for
Watch whether the child can produce a bumpy version on purpose. Voluntary disfluency is a strong sign that the child can identify the behaviour rather than only experience it, and it is the foundation for every modification technique. Notice whether they judge all disfluency as bad — normal speech contains some, and framing bumpy as a category rather than a failure matters here.
Carrying it home
Naming a bumpy moment casually, without alarm, is the most useful thing a family can do. That was a bumpy one, no problem takes the taboo out of it and makes the vocabulary usable.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Second through eighth grade, as identification work before technique instruction.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all ten samples play with no account.
- Why have a child identify stuttering before changing it?
- Because a child who cannot tell smooth from bumpy cannot tell whether a technique worked. Identification is the base every modification approach is built on.