Joybound Fluency Elementary® FAQ
A comprehensive stuttering curriculum for Speech-Language Pathologists
1. Where do I even begin?
2. How can you follow a curriculum and still provide individualized therapy?
3. Can I pick and choose lessons?
4. I have a group with two students who are working on language skills, one student working on articulation, and one student who stutters. How do I implement Joybound Fluency Elementary®?
5. What happens if I don’t get through an entire lesson card in one session? Will I be behind?
6. What if I stay on pace with one lesson card per session and I have extra sessions at the end of each grading period? Do I keep moving forward through the curriculum?
7. What if my therapy sessions are longer or shorter than 30 minutes?
8. How can I get parents and teachers involved?
9. How many do I need to order?
10. How do I order with a Purchase Order (PO)?
1. Where do I even begin?
You must consider the student’s full and individual evaluation, grade level, and therapy history. If a student has a current evaluation, has previously received speech therapy for stuttering, and you are trying to determine their present levels, you can assess their baseline knowledge in the four stuttering domains (Relaxation, Rate, Emotions, Knowledge). This can be done by using the assessment sections of each domain, starting in year one, to gauge their skills. Since the goals and objectives in Joybound Fluency® are task-analyzed, you can identify gaps in learning and/or a student’s present levels by going through the assessment sections. It is okay to spend a couple of sessions rapidly going through assessment sections to determine a student’s present level.
Start a student from the first assessment failed (gap in learning) within each domain of the curriculum. It is possible for a student to begin on Relaxation 2.1, Rate 2.1, Emotions 1.3 and Stuttering Knowledge 1.1.
If a student is an initial referral and has never received speech therapy services, start them from the beginning of Joybound Fluency®, despite their age. Joybound Fluency® is a flexible curriculum and can be sped up or slowed down to match each child’s cognitive ability. For example, an older student may only need to complete the direct instruction and assessment portions of early lessons in order to master the content. This is because their zone of proximal development is different from a kindergartener’s cognitively.
For example, a typical third grader may only require 2-3 lessons to memorize the parts of the speech-sound system and name their function, vs. the six allotted for a kindergartener. This means you are always starting children new to therapy at the beginning of the program to ensure there are no gaps in learning. However, students are free to move through the curriculum at a faster pace.
2. How can you follow a curriculum and still provide individualized therapy?
Imagine all students are on a journey. Some students may have already been on this journey for years, while others are just starting out. Some students may walk faster; some may need to spend three nights in one place. While others just need one—some may need to stop every hour for food, while others never get hungry. Some students may even have different destinations.
Now think of the curriculum as a map. It doesn’t matter where the students are. With a map, you can clearly locate where each child is, where they need to go, and how to get them there. In other words, you are still meeting each child where they are individually and deciding which path is most appropriate for them, but you are armed with the map that tells you how to get them there (without walking in circles).
One last analogy: imagine every second grade teacher waking up every morning and thinking, “Hmm, what should I teach today?” They don’t talk to the other second grade teachers, they don’t talk to the principal, they just rely on their degrees and expertise to come up with something new for each day. The result would be a giant group of children entering third grade with vastly different skills.
Curriculums are created for cohesion and standardization of skills. Educators can then modify those curriculums to meet the needs of each of their students. Joybound Fluency® lessons include written examples for modifying tasks up or down to meet individual needs. Goals can be further individualized by adding mastery criteria, trials, conditions, and level of prompting.
3. Can I pick and choose lessons?
You can (and should) decide what level your student is at within each domain and start your therapy there. It is also perfectly fine to skip lessons that do not pertain to your student (e.g. individualized therapy).
For example, if you have a student who doesn’t have interjections, then, under your clinical discretion, you can skip that lesson and keep going. The importance of following the order of the curriculum is to make sure students don’t have gaps in their learning and that there is cohesion between your therapy sessions.
4. I have a group with two students who are working on language skills, one student working on articulation, and one student who stutters. How do I implement Joybound Fluency Elementary®?
I have worked in public schools for over a decade, and I know what it means to have to individualize instruction within a diverse group of children. However, after all my years of therapy, of all the populations I recommend seeing individually, it is children who stutter. It is worth your therapy weight in gold to see students who stutter individually or with other students who stutter. When we see these students in blended groups, more often than not, we are wasting their time.
5. What happens if I don’t get through an entire lesson card in one session? Will I be behind?
It is perfectly fine to spend more than one session on a lesson card. In fact, it is expected that this will happen at some points, which is why extra sessions are built into the model of Joybound Fluency®.
6. What if I stay on pace with one lesson card per session and I have extra sessions at the end of each grading period? Do I keep moving forward through the curriculum?
While you are welcome to continue moving forward through the curriculum, the Enrichment Activities were created specifically for this purpose. Enrichment Activities consist of application and deeper exploration of concepts and are just as valuable as other lessons. Since they are hands-on, they are also usually the lessons your students will remember the most.
7. What if my therapy sessions are longer or shorter than 30 minutes?
While lesson cards are based on a 30-minute session, it is easy to modify them to fit shorter or longer sessions. Based on teaching principles, it is best to chunk Activating Prior Knowledge with Direct Instruction, and Independent Practice with Assessment. That means Guided Practice is the best phase to use for transitions.
For example, if your sessions are shorter than 30 minutes, a recommended order for your lesson could be:
Session 1: Activate prior knowledge, complete direct instruction, start guided practice.
Session 2: Continue guided practice (this will also serve as activating prior knowledge for this session since students just learned the skill), complete independent practice, and then finish with your assessment.
If your therapy sessions are longer than 30 minutes (e.g. 45 minutes), there are three recommendations:
1. Do extra guided practice and independent practice.
2. Do one lesson card + one enrichment activity.
3. Complete one full lesson card, then transition to a new lesson card and complete Activating Prior Knowledge and Direct Instruction. As you rotate through lesson cards, aim to transition between sessions with either Guided Practice or the start of a new lesson card.
8. How can I get parents and teachers involved?
Joybound Fluency® is laid out so goals and objectives (both short and long term) can be clearly communicated to parents and teachers. Several lessons also include homework for parents. We, as service providers, are obligated to educate parents and teachers about stuttering. As you prepare for a child’s annual review, instead of only collecting information from parents and the classroom teacher, schedule a short meeting with both to review the upcoming year’s goals and objectives. Explain the speech journal to parents and encourage a dialogue about stuttering. Also, keep in mind that a child who stutters is the best person to educate their family, teachers, and peers about stuttering. Talk to adults about how to start conversations and create space for children who stutter to share their knowledge of stuttering with others.
9. How many do I need to order?
Joybound Fluency® is designed for 1 elementary campus, or 1 curriculum kit per Speech-language Pathologist (SLP). Each kit includes a digital version accessible for 1 device, 1 SLP. More kits can be purchased at the District level to accommodate all campuses and SLPs.
10. How do I order with a Purchase Order (PO)?
No problem at all! We accept Purchase Orders from schools, school districts and businesses. Contact us for our W9. Email the PO to: purchase@joybound.com, and we will send you an invoice.
Please note that Purchase Orders must have an official Purchase Order number and an authorized signature (the person responsible for payment). If you have tax exempt status, please also enter your Tax Exemption Certificate number. Thank you!