Color Me Fluent™ is a program designed by Alice Anne Farley M.Ed., CCCSLP, BRS-FD, a lifelong stutterer and board certified fluency specialist, which combines the efforts of the speech-language pathologist (SLP), parents, teachers, and the child to effect changes in the child’s speech and life. There is a link between stuttering in children and harmony and structure in the child’s environment and to overall language facility or oral motor proficiency (Van Riper, 1973; Zwitman, 1978; Riley & Riley, 1979; Gregory, 2003).

Color Me Fluent™ utilizes learning theory, behavior modification, and family education to facilitate an increase in self-esteem and fluency. The intent of the program is for use with children and adults. Numerous handouts, games, activities, and a CD-ROM enhance the implementation of the strategies.

Color Me Fluent™ creatively integrates traditional methods of treating stuttering. The introduction of over-learning and exaggeration of correct speech patterns is under the umbrella of orange speech (fluency shaping). The SLP teaches stuttering modification strategies concurrently with fluency shaping or adds it later to deal with desensitization and block management.

The essential purpose of Color Me Fluent™ is to teach the student to “let out air, let out tightness, and let out talking.” Strongly conditioned speaking habits and fears weaken through systematic practice of orange speech. The person who stutters progresses from red speech through orange speech to “earned” green speech, which is the desired outcome of the program.

This Handy Handout includes a black and white version of the Color Me Fluent™ posters:
Levels of Speech Fluency and
The Umbrella of Orange Speech Targets.

Alice Anne G. Farley, M.Ed., CCC-SLP, BRS-FD is a board recognizedfluency specialist. She is currently in private practice in Columbia, South Carolina, where she is also involved in teaching and training clinicians in the Color Me Fluent™ methodology. Alice Anne has served on the faculties of Ohio State University, Mercer University, Columbia (SC) College, and the University of South Carolina. She has supervised and mentored graduate students from other states and universities as well. Alice Anne is a past president of the South Carolina Speech and Hearing Association. Color Me Fluent™ is the culmination of her experiences as a person who stutters and as a clinician for over forty years.