Hi! My speech therapy took a very long time, a total of about 10 years and in total about 10 therapists (most were in the last couple of years though, therapist came more and more popular with people who stutter and had to get more and more people to help and he let them work with people who already advanced a bit, he still guided new people himself.) I started when I was about 4 or 5 with a therapist that after a few years decided she couldn't help me enough and sent me to centre which was supposed to be more adequate in helping people who stutter. Then I had to quit because healthcare wouldn't repay a big part of the therapy (not because of me, standard rules in my country). These were mainly classical style therapists. Focus was on accepting, practicing reading aloud, helped a bit, but after a while my speech would be back to what it used to be. By that time I already accepted stuttering would be a part of my life and I wouldn't be able to talk normally. Fast forward a couple of years, lots of bullying in school and a traumatic experience later my stutter was at the worst ever in my life, then my dad saw a small documentary about a therapist about an hour driving from where I live who helped people using fluency shaping (is not used in classical therapy, he was the only one who did it). My dad made an appointment, I didn't want to go because the other therapy didn't help. Then my dad told me that the therapist himself stuttered as well. I went, and it changed my life. It was expensive the first half year (eventually we got the approval to be reimbursed again), it ruined at the time all my free time (therapy was 2 hours driving, 2 hours intensive therapy, I practiced at least an hour a day, lots of self-help weekends//evening) 3 and a half years later I considered myself fluent if i control my speaking. I still stutter, but I can control it. It is still there but I made it a part of me instead of it controlling me. I have a strong dislike for the classical speech therapy in my country and the time you are allowed to get therapy (2 years of 2 and a half hours per week). I got lucky because of my dad who fought the system and won. Classical therapy in my country focusses on accepting. the therapy I got later on was all about fluency shaping, practicing and getting out of your shell and just talk. There are still some things that I would like to improve. When I'm tired it is hard to control my speaking, I still don't like to talk on the phone, I have problems meeting new people because of "what if ..." thoughts. But i'll get there, I did the hard part already. As for your other questions: no experience in actual voice/singing lessons or animal therapy but I have some thoughts about it. voice/singing: by themselves they could be of help, but they would be more effective if used with the idea of using it to control your speech. Fluency shaping helped with me and now I talk in a slightly different way. I am "singing" but in a way that other people don't notice it, for them it seems that I am talking normally, but for me I am controlling my intonation and tempo and no stutters appear. It is only slightly slower and the tonal range is very small, but it makes a big difference to me. animal therapy: We always had pets at home, mostly gerbils and finches (folk "sport" reasons). I never had a stutter when I was alone with them. They don't judge. Made me realise that speaking without a stutter is possible, I just had to figure out how to do it when the other party was a human instead of an animal. Since you're going to be a speech therapists just some pointers from someone who's been on the other side: - everybody is different, you will have to adapt your therapy to everyone, I was somebody who needed pushes. Other people don't react too well to pushes - there will be ups and downs with your patients, Don't blame yourself when somebody has a bad time. Guide them through it, should be something you're going to learn over time - Don't let your patients learn bad "tricks", I always found the next big thing to overcome a block. They were bad. My therapist told me they were bad. I stopped doing them. He could have said nothing and I would be still doing them. Stick to a certain therapy. Don't let your patient be somebody with dozens or hundreds of tricks which might help him/her, but are bad for breathing/ frowned upon in normal situations. I have seen people where it would become almost a tick, yes they might get out of a stutter, but it doesn't help when you are deforming your face or have bad breathing or are repeating a catchphrase dozens of times. unlearning something like that is very difficult. - tape regularly, when I had a bad time my therapist would show me a piece of the first recording and one which was taken later on. seeing improvement and being told you are improving are 2 very different things! I also saw recordings of other people, again, seeing improvement and being told that a therapy works, 2 very different things. You can PM me if you want to ask/talk more :)