I recently received an email from a speech pathologist who was concerned about a teenager who stutters on her caseload. I was thrilled she asked how to help. She observed this 11 year old was not talking too much or not interested in exploring the topic of stuttering. So what do we do? Children get a ton of questions from their parents and even at my age my mom likes to know what is going on. I work part time in a high school and the last thing they want me doing is asking questions about their lives. They love talking about their strengths, sports or cars. It is up to me to find ways of encouraging them without making stuttering the highlight of their lives.
The truth is people who stutter want to talk. Most people do not like talking about things that bother them, ex: weight, poor hearing etc. It is the same with most of the people I work with. There should be a balance of working on improving fluency while enjoying talking. What is the sense of becoming fluent if you are petrified of stuttering? The more intensive the therapy I find it easier to see progress and allow freedom to speak without judgement.