The Speech & Stuttering Institute

Michele is doing a fantastic job with my son. It has made a huge difference. I highly recommend the Speech and Stuttering Institute.

I am a graduate of the speech fluency program at the Speech and Stuttering Institute. I completed my therapy in a group with two other adults, our speech pathologist was Marni Kinder. We started sometime in January and finished in the end of June. We had one therapy session per week, and were required to complete homework and practice our speech everyday using the knowledge we were taught. This takes more or less an hour a day. Each session consists of reading the therapy manual book, which Marni explains, and practicing techniques from the book which are meant to improve our speech.

As a person who has a stutter, I want to recommend this program to people who also have a stutter. We all want to speak well, and this becomes amplified when you are not the master of your speech but your speech is the master of you... of how you think, feel, and act. My stutter is not the worst in the world, and in school I fit in, had friends and even gave presentations when I was younger. But the older I got, the more I started to notice that I cannot say quite what I want, and I have to find ways to do so. I become more self-conscious, and gradually my speech become worse. In the beginning of high school I gave presentations uneasily and was very nervous, in the end of high school a presentation was a very stressful event in my life. My speech became worse and worse, and I was no longer confident about speaking with friends. Speaking with family became difficult. I tried to talk less and be more quiet, but there was also a point where I understood that I need to seek help because this is not how I was before, or who I want to be.

Coming into the program I had no tools to control my stutter. All I knew is that on certain days it is much better, on most days it is present, and on some days it is better to listen and not contribute. I knew that "stressful" situations make my stutter worse, and when I am comfortable there are less blocks and my speech flows. All of these situations still exist and have not gone anywhere, but now I have the knowledge that helps me stay fluent everyday, in spite of triggering situations. You are taught to stretch your words, to focus on syllables, and start off difficult words softly. As a person that has never liked mechanistic solutions, I cannot deny that this works. I will say more, if you keep to the rules you learn, this works always. The difficult part is having the mental strength to keep to the rules when at times it sounds awkward.

This program does not cure your stutter, and our speech pathologist made it clear right away that they do not claim it does. The program improves your speech. For some people it improves speech drastically. I still have a stutter, no cure for this illness is yet known, but I have control of my speech when I put my mind to it, whereas before I had little to none. I was helpless, with all the accompanying feelings and behaviours. I have lost these behaviours now, and am much more confident in myself. I will not stop here and will continue to search for knowledge about what else can be done, but this is a GREAT first step.

If you want to speak better, if you want to speak well; if you want newfound confidence within yourself; if you want to express yourself and convey your thoughts to the world, and have your voice heard - please take this program! I do not think you risk losing anything but only stand to gain if you put in the effort. The program may be pricey but it is well worth it.

P.s. Some personal advice based on experience. Do not devote too much thought to your stuttering in the sense that you are sick, doing this you will speak worse. Focusing on negative things will bring along more negative things. Focus on what you want to say, and when you do speak, do so with passion, do it like you mean it, and your speech will be better.

I did their Precision Fluency Shaping Program (PFSP) IN 1993 & 2005. I went from being almost completely unable to speak to leading teams. I mean my speech isn't perfect, but when I practice more, my fluency is controllable.

Great place with really friendly staff. Marni has helped me significantly with my suttuer through various intensive workshops and 1 on 1 speech therapy