Overview:
Mini-KIDS Workshop hosted by SIG in Stammering
3 day workshop
4th-6th Feb 2026
9am-4.30pm
Portlaoise Parish Centre
Mini-KIDS (a stuttering modification therapy approach for children age 2-6 yrs)
Mini-KIDS is a stuttering modification therapy approach for the treatment of young children based on the work of Van Riper and Dell.
It is a direct therapy program for young children (ages 2-6) who stutter, focusing on teaching them to accept and stutter in an easy, relaxed way through play and open discussion. The program involves parents acting as co-therapists to model functional coping and reduce tension and struggle.
Key components include stages of desensitization, identification, and modification, all while creating a playful environment where stuttering is normalised.
To hear Veerle describe this approach, use this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi98hb3mKSU
Speaker Bio:
Veerle Waelkens (Arteveldehogeschool Ghent) graduated as a Bachelor in Speech and Language Therapy and Audiology in 1989, at the Arteveldehogeschool Ghent. Belgium. She specialised in stuttering at the Artevelde University College in 1999 and has since attended workshops by several authorities in the field of stuttering. Veerle lectures on stuttering and speech disorders (mostly childhood apraxia of speech) at the Artevelde University college in the Bachelor program for SLTs since 2003. She is also staff member of European Stuttering Specialisation (https://www.stutteringspecialization.eu/) and acts as a lecturer and coach for the students on this specialisation course . Combined with her private practice where she focuses on screening, diagnosis and treatment of stuttering, cluttering and of different disorders that effect the clients self-esteem, social aspects of communication (dysphasia, dyspraxia, speech anxiety,...) since 2005. In this setting she offers individual counseling for parents, parental group sessions and a program for teachers of disfluent children. Many years of experience in using stuttering modification therapy with (young) children (according to KIDS and Mini-KIDS) resulted in publishing a book on this approach called Mini-KIDS- Direct Therapy for Young Children who Stutter.
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