yeah, first let me put up a note to please excuse the tone of this post if it sounds too aggressive. Yeah but we both know SLPs barely work with stutterers. And in grad school, they have maybe one "fluency" class where the word stuttering is almost shunned. As a result, most SLPs don't know anything about it really. They know what they read here and there, about breathing or onsets and whatnot, but we both know for the vast majority that stuff is useless. Almost all SLPs who set IEPs make them out for 80% fluency or something dealing with fluency, which shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what the issues are. Now I dont mean to shit on SLPs if it sounds like that. Almost all SLPs I know are really caring individuals who genuinely want to provide real help to their clients. I think the difficultly lies in the beast that is stuttering. It is different from articulation disorders for example, which I understand have a much clearer and reliable treatment protocol. Treating stuttering deals as much with the motor/mechanical as it does with the psychological/affective, and it's a sliding scale for each stutterer. Stuttering is so involved and so individual according to each clients needs, personality, speech pattern, self view, etc... that it is over more the capabilities of most SLPs (especially if they dont specialize in stuttering). The other part is I dont think SLPs get much exposure to stuttering in grad school. This somewhat understandable because most dont have many clients who stutter, but at the same time it leaves them feeling underqualified and lost when they do get a client with a difficult stutter. And to your last line, there's a difference between stuttering while holding back and trying to hide stuttering and stuttering when embracing it and letting it flow unobstructed. The difference is a matter of tension, expression, and comfort.