What is it about?
Family-centered practice treats parents as equal partners in their child’s therapy. It is widely recommended for young children who stutter, but little is known about how therapists actually experience it. We conducted in-depth interviews with eight speech-language therapists in Türkiye. They cared deeply about families and saw themselves as family-centered, yet they usually set therapy goals on their own and asked parents to help carry them out. The problem was not a lack of commitment but a lack of shared language, guidance and training. We propose a framework to help close this gap.
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Photo by Birleşim Özel Eğitim Rehabilitasyon Merkezi on Unsplash
Why is it important?
This is one of the first studies to look at family-centered practice in early childhood stuttering from the therapist’s point of view. It shows that involving parents in sessions is not the same as sharing decisions with them, a gap that is likely common well beyond Türkiye. Our framework is the first of its kind for this field and can guide therapist training, starting with how the very first assessment visit is approached.
Perspectives
What stayed with me most was how the interviews became a moment of reflection for some of the therapists. Simply describing their everyday routines helped them notice how much their practice had changed over the years. I hope this article sparks similar conversations among clinicians, those who train future therapists and families, and helps make partnership with parents something we can name, teach and practice, not just believe in.
Nurdan CANKUVVET
Anadolu Universitesi
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Speech-Language Therapists' Lived Experiences of Family-Centered Practice in Early Childhood Stuttering, American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, October 2026, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA),
DOI: 10.1044/2026_ajslp-26-00049.
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