Stuttering Foundation Podcast

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Dr. Ellen Kelly hosts today's episode, which is an audio adaptation of a video presentation (video viewing details below). This "Career Retrospective" Series is a new Stuttering Foundation project. Through this project, we hope to honor and archive the careers, stories, lessons, and advice for future generations from the "Stuttering Giants."

Recently retired from Vanderbilt University, Professor Emeritus Edward Gage Conture provides a retrospective of his illustrious career in the field of stuttering. Threaded with personal history, his legacy of mentees, and an abundance of research and clinical contributions, Dr. Conture provides a retrospective of the personal and professional influences on his career and scientific discoveries that will continue to guide the field for decades to come.

Note: there is a video version complete with visual slides that really enrich the experience. We recommend viewing via the Stuttering Foundation Streaming Video Library. 

For feedback, feel free to email Sara: [email protected]. 

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In the continuation of our 'Sara and Ellen' discussion segment, Ellen Kelly, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BCS-F, Associate Professor in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC),  joins host Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP, for a fun simulation of an initial therapy session/ intake consultation discussion. Sara puts her 'client' hat on and plays herself about 12 years ago when she first began speech therapy, and Ellen, plays the role of the therapist!

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Dr. Bridget Walsh joins Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP to discuss recent research related to documenting and better understanding disfluency behaviors expressed by 4- and 5- year-old children who stutter and to identify whether stuttering characteristics at this age are predictive of later stuttering recovery or persistence. Dr. Walsh discusses potential future areas of research and, in general, her hopes for how learning more about the characteristics of disfluency patterns in this age group may be able to impact our work clinically in the future.

Link to study in JSLHR
Link to participate in Dr. Walsh’s current study

Bio: Dr. Bridget Walsh is a certified speech-language pathologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders at Michigan State University. She directs the Developmental Speech Laboratory in the Communication Arts and Sciences building. She received her B.S. and M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology and Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience from Purdue University. Translating thoughts into spoken words is a seemingly effortless ability, one easily taken for granted, yet speech production is a fascinating and remarkably complex process. Dr. Walsh's research focuses on the mechanisms underlying the development of stuttering in young children. She uses a multilevel approach combining neuroimaging, articulatory kinematics, autonomic nervous system recordings, and behavioral approaches to assess how stuttering emerges in young children, and to answer critical questions about why many young children recover from early stuttering while others persist and develop a lifelong chronic condition.

For feedback/ episode suggestions, email Sara: [email protected] 

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In our final installment (and possibly our favorite!) of our Panel Series, all ten panel members debrief and answer questions from students. Listen and learn as panel members offer more details on their own experiences, share perspectives on things like speech tools and managing parent expectations, and they close by offering advice to SLPs based on their experiences. We hope you've enjoyed this series as much as we have! Thank you so very much again to all panel members for allowing us to share your stories and insight!

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Listen and learn from the stories of five more adults who stutter as they reflect on their journeys. Spring, Eugene, Cara, Dillon, and Sara share where they were, where they are today, and where they hope to be in the future. Be sure to join us next week for Part 3 for a Q&A and discussion among all 10 panelists. Endless thanks to the panel members who so willingly shared their stories with all of us!

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Listen and learn from the stories of five adults who stutter as they reflect on their journeys. Megan, Heather, Jack, Emily, and Courtney share where they were, where they are today, and where they hope to be in the future. Be sure to join us for Part 2 next week, where we will hear from another 5 adults who stutter. Then, tune back in for Part 3 for a Q&A and discussion segment with the whole panel. Thank you so much to the panel for allowing us to share your stories!

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Rob Dellinger, M.S., CCC-SLP of the Wake County Public Schools in Raleigh, NC is back for a special episode for our school-based segment focused on goal writing. Listen to Rob continue his discussion related to challenges school-based therapists face, and offer suggestions for how we can expand our viewpoint and provide more comprehensive therapy to children who stutter in the schools.
Rob shares how important a comprehensive assessment is for laying the foundation for goals that fit the child. He emphasizes how goals should go far beyond fluency measurement/ strategies and offers a measurable framework for conceptualizing goals for overall communicative effectiveness, participation, and quality of life impact.

Resource mentioned:
Working with School-Age Children Who Stutter: Basic Principle Problem Solving by Kristin Chmela, M.A., CCC-SLP and June Campbell, M.A., CCC-SLP. 

Feedback/ Suggestions? Write to Sara: [email protected]

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What do adults who stutter and stuttering specialists think it means to make a positive change to stuttering? Naomi H. Rodgers, Ph.D., CCC-SLP and Hope Gerlach, Ph.D., CCC-SLP join host, Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP, to discuss their current research related to better understanding what the change process looks like for adults who stutter;  specifically, “What would an adult who stutters be doing if they were making a positive change to their stuttering?” Hope and Naomi discuss the three core themes that emerged, clinical applications, future areas of research they hope to investigate, and more!
Note: This study is still under review and is not yet published.

Further Reading:
"Applying The Stages of Change"

Naomi H. Rodgers, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. She moved there in 2019 after finishing her Ph.D. at the University of Iowa under the mentorship of Dr. Tricia Zebrowski. She directs the UNL Stuttering Lab where she focuses her research program on the psychosocial aspects of stuttering, primarily among adolescents who stutter.

Hope Gerlach, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is an assistant professor at Western Michigan University. She also is a transplant from the University of Iowa and a part of the Dr. Tricia Zebrowski lineage. Her research focuses on how stigma and identity-related factors influence the experiences of people who stutter. 

Questions, Feedback, or Suggestions email Sara: [email protected].

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We kick off Season Two with the continuation of our 'Sara & Ellen' discussion segment with host, Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP, and Ellen Kelly, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BCS-F, Associate Professor in the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). Sara and Ellen discuss the importance of preparing clients to become their own clinicians, and how we should work towards making ourselves 'useless' as therapists rather than perpetuating clinician dependence. Finally, they discuss how to guide clients in developing their own goals and foster self-accountability.

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Ellen Kelly, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BCS-F of Vanderbilt University joins Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP for an episode devoted to discussing how to best support parents through the therapeutic process and across the lifespan of a child. Ellen and Sara talk through how they build and foster strong partnerships with parents beginning from the initial contact/ evaluation process all the way through into incorporating them in therapy and building the depth of their understanding and knowledge-levels. Sara and Ellen then discuss unique situations like working with parents of children who stutter who stutter themselves, navigating fluency-demanding parent conversations, and they end by sharing some of their favorite resources to give to parents.