Color Me Fluent is a fluency program for children who stutter, and one of the Fluency Tools implemented at Chatterboxes. Various speech patterns are designated by color: red, orange, and green. Red speech represents stuttering, orange speech represents adaptive stuttering, and green speech represents fluent speech. The goal is for the child to progress from red speech through orange speech to green speech.

Therapy focuses on orange speech, which is the practice speech. The speech-language pathologist (SLP) works with the child to implement specific strategies to improve fluency of speech.

There are several strategies under the umbrella of orange speech that help the child stay on track and use their best speech habits. These targeted strategies under the umbrella of orange speech include:

• Full Breath
• Breath and Speech Together
• Pause Often
• Regulated Rate
• Continuous Vocal Phonation
• Talking in Short Sentences
• Minimizing Consonants and Maximizing Vowels

SLPs engage fluency shaping by introducing over-learning and exaggeration of correct speech patterns as they assist the child progress from red speech through orange speech to green speech.

Using the Color Me Fluent program, SLPs are utilizing learning theory, behavior modification, and family education to facilitate an increase in awareness, self-esteem, and fluency for the child.