Free and Reduced Cost Stuttering Therapy for Kids in New York
April 6, 2022
American Institute for Stuttering
For so many children, going back to school this year has taken on a whole new meaning. After a year of zoom or limited in-person schooling, many children are experiencing anxiety and concern about rejoining their peers in an educational setting. For children who stutter, the concerns and worries are even greater, as many have spent the last year and a half out of practice communicating in a school environment.
We are delighted to announce that the American Institute for Stuttering (“AIS”) has been given a generous grant from the New York Community Trust to provide low-cost or free stuttering therapy to children who qualify aged 3 – 21 in the New York area who could not otherwise afford these kinds of services.
“What makes this offering so special is that in ordinary educational settings children simply do not receive the type of one-on-one, individualized therapy that we provide,” explained Carl Herder, one of AIS’s talented speech-language pathologists. “There are only 160 specialists in the US who are specifically trained to work with people who stutter, and so it is rare to find one in a school.
Because working with people who stutter is all that we do, we spend the time to individualize the work for each child and family. From there, we work on strategies and techniques that allow the child to speak freely and confidently without regard to their stutter,” explained Herder.
AIS provides the essential education and support that helps the whole family, as we know this is an essential component of effective treatment. In addition, peer group therapies and events are critical to AIS’s work. So many children who stutter report that they feel isolated and different than their peers.
Interacting with other children who stutter in the same age group allows them to share experiences, offer mutual support, and feel more comfortable while working on the various aspects of stuttering.
Apply here for financial assistance
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The American Institute for Stuttering is a leading non-profit organization whose primary mission is to provide universally affordable, state-of-the-art speech therapy to people of all ages who stutter, guidance to their families, and much-needed clinical training to speech professionals wishing to gain expertise in stuttering.
Offices are located in New York, NY, Atlanta, GA, and Minneapolis, MN, and services are also available online. Our mission extends to advancing public and scholarly understanding of this often misunderstood disorder.
Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash
