MISSISSIPPI — The Journal of Fluency Disorders published a feasibility study in 2026 indicating that telepractice resilience training improved outcomes for children who stutter. The study, titled "Telepractice resilience training for children who stutter: A single-arm pre–post feasibility study," was led by University of Mississippi researchers Gregory Snyder and Emily Williams Thornton.

Snyder, an associate professor of communication sciences and disorders at the University of Mississippi, and Thornton, a graduate of the university with a master's degree in communication sciences and disorders, directed a team that delivered 12 live online sessions to six children over six weeks. The children, aged 8 to 12, were recruited from Mississippi and other parts of the United States. More than two-thirds of the participating students demonstrated clear improvement in resilience by the program's conclusion.

The program's lessons were adapted from a character education video series created by resilience educator Brooks Gibbs, who provided the material to the research team without charge. The program addressed topics such as coping strategies, emotional regulation, realistic optimism, empathy, and self-advocacy. "His contribution provided a strong, developmentally appropriate foundation," Snyder said. "We were then able to reconstruct the material around the communication situations children who stutter face, including teasing, classroom participation, self-advocacy, knowing when to seek help, and how to help and mentor others."

Thornton noted the pressures children who stutter can face. "If you're made fun of for your speech, then you'll start to overthink or second-guess everything you have to say in public," she said. "That creates pressure to speak a certain way, which can actually influence how you do speak, and then either you exhaust yourself trying to avoid stuttering or you open yourself up to additional potentially negative attention by speaking and inevitably stuttering."

"As a child, I was told, 'If you can't talk fluently, don't talk at all,'" Snyder said. "When children hear messages like that, they can carry them into every speaking situation." He added, "Instead of focusing on what they want to say, they may begin to constantly monitory their speech, anticipating judgement and deciding whether speaking is worth the risk." Thornton stated, "We know from research that these children are reporting higher rates of bullying, teasing and anxiety related to their speech."

Researchers indicated that a larger study is needed to verify these initial results, which could lead to further development of resilience-based interventions for children who stutter.