Canada-France
Treating Cluttering: A Common Factors Approach to Clinical Practice
Training Context
Cluttering was long misunderstood or misidentified. Yet we often see clients who are said to ‘speak too fast,’ are unintelligible, whose friends and family ask them frequently to repeat themselves. Often associated with stuttering and other conditions (learning difficulties, attention difficulties, autism spectrum disorder), cluttering is rarely the primary reason why our clients seek treatment.
For more than 10 years now, we have been treating people who clutter. We have decided to provide this workshop comparing the European and American treatment approaches. Based on common factors we designed this training to develop a broader choice for therapists and clients. It will present our frameworks, the treatment options developed by Yvonne Van Zaalen & Isabella Reichel and Katherine Scaler-Scott, illustrated by numerous video and audio examples.
Date and Time
Friday, March 27, 2026
8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (Quebec time)
2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (France time)
Duration
4 hours
Fee
$160 CAN (100 €)
Learning Objectives
At the end of this workshop, speech therapists will be able to:
- Understand, identify, and define cluttering and its specific characteristics.
- Explore and implement the key components of clinical work, inspired by American and European approaches, with the client and their communication partners, including goal setting and the development of a strong therapeutic alliance.
Program
- Definitions of cluttering (first-person perspective, comparative frameworks, and video examples)
- Theoretical framework: the Levelt model (our “mille-feuilles” analogy)
- Comparative assessment and treatment practices: American and European approaches
- Intervention principles in speech and language therapy, including case study highlights
- Resources for further learning







