Imagine… you’re sitting at a meeting or out with a friend and trying to talk and the words just don’t come out, you are completely blocked. Or your child is trying to talk to you and you simply cannot understand the words they are trying to say. This is a daily experience for the people we treat.

What is The Speech & Stuttering Institute?

The Speech & Stuttering Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for those with speech and stuttering challenges. We provide excellent clinical service, education and training for professionals in the field of speech language pathology, and engage in research to find the most effective, evidence based treatment methods.

What is the need?

The Ontario Government originally funded pre-school programs from the early 1980’s until 2014. When funding priorities changed at the Ministry of Child and Youth Services, the government refocused their support from clinical therapy to engaging SSI to train the professionals within the Preschool Speech and Language Services Program across Ontario. As a result of this change, our government funding has dropped from over 1 million dollars in 2014/15 to $600K in 2017/18. This has had a devastating effect on our clinical programs as we strive to ensure excellence in care while continuing to keep the fees affordable and offering subsidies to families in need. We rely on ongoing donations and grants in addition to client fees. Over 80% of the people we serve are children and youth.

What sets us apart?

  • We have never turned away an individual in need of therapy because of finances. Families who demonstrate financial need and cannot afford our services are provided with subsidies.
  • Our treatment approach is founded upon more than 30 years of clinical experience and research in the areas of motor speech/speech sound disorders and stuttering. Our approach to treatment has been recognized worldwide and published in scientific journals and textbooks.
  • The government has recognized The Speech and Stuttering Institute as a Centre for Training & Development and have commissioned us to develop evidence-based care pathways for professionals in the Preschool Speech and Language Services Program. We train our colleagues across Ontario to apply the principles of these care pathways, thus ensuring the highest quality of care to children and their families in this program
  • The stuttering program is the only specialized and intensive treatment program for stuttering in the greater Toronto area and one of only a handful of such treatment centres worldwide.

What is our impact?

Individuals with speech or stuttering problems are affected throughout their life, socially, educationally, vocationally and emotionally. Here at The Speech and Stuttering Institute we are able to transform the lives of preschoolers, school aged children, teens and adults who seek our services for their often devastating problems with communication. Clients who have gone through our programs have seen life changing results and dramatic changes resulting in better overall health and quality of life at home, school, and within their community. Despite the fact that 1 in 10 Canadians have a speech, language or hearing problem or that 11% of children in kindergarten have a speech sound disorder, our cause is still relatively unknown and unsupported.

This is the experience of a young woman who was treated at SSI as a teen and gained the speech skills and confidence to follow her dreams and is now a nurse at Sickkids: “The Speech and Stuttering Institute has had an amazing impact on my life. I have a stutter, and for most of my life this meant I could never trust that I would be able to say what I wanted say, causing immense anxiety for me when it came to speaking. Thankfully, I completed the Intensive Fluency Treatment Program at The Speech and Stuttering Institute. The program taught me reliable techniques to improve my speech, and after a lot of practice and support during and after the program I am finally able to speak fluently!”

For more information, please contact: Swetha Ranganathan (416) 491-7771 x 243 swethar@speechandstuttering.com

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95 Barber Greene Road, Suite 308, Toronto, ON M3C 3E9

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