Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify the challenges and needs of adolescents who stutter (aWS) in the domains of education, employment, and independent living as they transition to life after high school.
Method: We interviewed 11 (aWS) ranging from ages 15-24 who all had some school speech therapy experience. The focus group interviews were centered around the primary discussion question, “What are your primary challenges and needs as you transition to postsecondary education/vocational training, employment and independent living?” Follow-up probing questions were asked to concentrate the discussion on identifying specific concerns and needs that aWS have as they enter life after high school. The focus group discussions were transcribed and qualitatively analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis to develop themes.
Results: Meaningful units drawn from the focus group discussions contributed to five themes for each of the three postsecondary domains of education/vocational training, employment, and independent living. These themes represented a general trend of being open and proactive about stuttering.
Conclusions: These results address a gap in literature for aWS, a commonly overlooked population in stuttering research, during a critical period in their lives. We identified the primary needs that speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can address in their therapy plans when providing services to these students.