ABSTRACT
Family counselling training is a matter of learning a particular procedure. The counsellor establishes a partnership relationship with the family by using christian names and offering recommendations rather than giving advice. An Adlerian family counselling approach originally practised by Dreikurs is used. Relationships between family members can be commented upon, particularly when relevant to the stammering behaviour. Since August 1981 family counselling has been given to 66 families of children under twelve who stammer. The stammer is regarded as one part of the whole child, and so a general picture is built up of the child’s behaviour and relationships in the family. Parents’ subjective evaluation of an improve- ment in their children’s speech and a general decrease in concern in the family about the stammer are common to all families who have been seen and have acted upon the recommendations.
