When Goals Aren’t Yours: Rebuilding Goals with Clients Who’ve Been Told What to Want

When stuttering clients say, “I don’t want to stutter,” they’re often echoing a lifetime of externally imposed goals, not necessarily their own. We will explore the clinical and emotional challenges that arise when speech-language pathologists aim to incorporate true collaborative goal setting with clients who have only known fluency-focused therapy.

We'll dive into strategies for educating clients—especially those who are new to neurodiversity-affirming care—about the full spectrum of stuttering therapy options, including identity, acceptance, and advocacy-based approaches. Together, we’ll examine how to build trust, present alternatives to fluency shaping, and gently reframe the purpose of therapy toward empowerment, agency, and choice.

Participants will leave with tools to navigate conversations where client expectations may initially conflict with affirming care models and a framework for fostering meaningful, values-based therapy goals—ones that belong to the client, not just the system that shaped them.

Join Nicole Kulmaczewski M.S. CCC-SLP as she facilitates this interactive…