StutterTalk

Mary McLoughlin joins Chris Constantino at the 2016 annual convention of FRIENDS: The National Association of Young People Who Stutter to discuss the power of vulnerability, what we gain by stuttering freely and how stuttering leads to intimate and meaningful relationships with other people. Ms. McLoughlin explains that she keeps returning to FRIENDS conventions because “I couldn’t be in better company.”

Other topics include the value of stuttered communication, stuttering freely and openly, meeting people who stutter with confidence and positivity, taking ownership of stuttering, how stuttering voices create spaces for intimacy and vulnerability, using voluntary stuttering to ground communication and much more.

The FRIENDS conference takes place July 28-30 in Columbus, Ohio.

Mary McLoughlin is from Long Island, New York and will be a student at the University of Dayton starting this fall. She plans on majoring in English. This is her third FRIENDS conference.

Christopher Constantino is a person who stutters, a StutterTalk host and a PhD student in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Memphis. Chris is doing his clinical fellowship in the Shelby County Schools in Memphis and is conducting a research study to understand and contextualize the experiences of passing as fluent for people who covertly stutter.

Roisin McManus, Caryn Herring and Joel Korte of the StutterTalk B Team discuss the roller coaster ride of stuttering.

While Joel and Roisin report not having the “emotional capital” or need to worry about stuttering at the moment, Caryn shares some recent, hard stuttering challenges she is facing. The B Team then discusses the recent National Stuttering Association and International Stuttering Association joint conference and a discussion on wether stuttering should be considered a disorder or a difference.

As always, be sure and stick around until the very end of the episode when Joel shares a story about a news reporter who appeared to uninvite him from a television appearance because of his stuttering.

Caryn Herring is a person who stutters and a speech-language pathologist, currently pursuing her PhD at The University of Pittsburgh. Caryn is also an adjunct clinical instructor at Duquesne University, supervising graduate students and teaching the Stuttering Course. She is an active member of numerous stuttering organizations.

Roisin McManus lives in New York City and has co-led the Brooklyn Chapter of the National Stuttering Association for the past 5 years. She is an occasional StutterTalk host, was the lead planner of the 20-Something’s Program for the NSA/ISA World Congress in Atlanta 2016 and doesn’t mind being referred to as a “stutterer.” She works as an emergency room nurse and recently graduated from New York University as an acute care & palliative care nurse practitioner.

Joel Korte is an electrical engineer, speech-language pathologist, and a person who stutters. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology in 2013, and earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of St. Thomas in 2007.  Joel is the co-leader of the Minneapolis chapters of both the adult and teen (TWST) support groups through the National Stuttering Association. Joel is the owner of the Chase Bliss Audio, a guitar effects pedal company, and is a musician in a Minneapolis.

Marcus Peters joins Peter Reitzes to discuss the importance of taking the role of a person who stutters. Mr. Peter’s attributes this perspective and phrase to Vivian Sisskin. Mr. Peters is asked about attending his first National Stuttering Association Conference and a workshop which challenged him to consider the terms “disordered” vs “different.” Other language discussed today […]

Jia Bin joins Christopher Constantino today at the Joint Conference of the National Stuttering Association (NSA) and the International Stuttering Association (ISA) in Atlanta, Georgia. Ms. Bin shares that in China there is a lot of stigma surrounding disabilities and that many people with disabilities, including people who stutter, feel a need to hide their stuttering in academia […]

Anthony DiLollo joins Reuben Schuff today at the National Stuttering Association’s 2016 Research Symposium to discuss his presentation Talking Back to Stuttering: A Constructivist Approach to Counseling with Persons Who Stutter. Dr. DiLollo discusses how people who stutter have the ability to tell and live a different story. Dr. DiLollo states, “We underestimate how much control we have over the […]

Bob Quesal and Joe Klein join Peter Reitzes to respond to Joshua St. Pierre’s criticism of the National Stuttering Association (NSA). Pierre’s criticism stems, in part, from a StutterTalk interview with the NSA’s Chairman, Gerald Maguire, titled The Future of the National Stuttering Association.  Bob, Joe and Peter discuss a number of topics including stuttering, acceptance, treatment, […]

Sarah Berkowitz joins Peter Reitzes to discuss the physical exhaustion of stuttering. This conversation stems from a post Ms. Berkowitz made at Stuttering Arena in which she said, “Does anyone else ever feel physically exhausted from their stutter? Sometimes I feel like I just ran a marathon.” Other topics include how and why telling your teacher about […]

Roisin McManus and Caryn Herring of the StutterTalk B Team join Peter Reitzes to discuss the huge success of the NYC stuttering conference The Past, The Present and Future of Stuttering. Today’s topics emanate from this workshop. We discuss Barry Yeoman’s amazing keynote address including topics he raises such as the juncture of “we need a […]

Dr. Michelle Swift joins Peter Reitzes to discuss her study “Case file audit of Lidcombe program outcomes in a student-led stuttering clinic.” This research is the focus of much conversation right now in the stuttering community. While the study reports that student clinicians “can achieve the same short-term treatment outcomes for children who stutter using the Lidcombe Program as those reported […]

Katie Gore joins Peter Reitzes to discuss stuttering and insurance reimbursement. Ms. Gore is asked about general health care terms such as co-pays, “case studies” and victories from her private practice in advocating for clients with their insurance companies, peer-to-peer meetings with insurance companies, how people who stutter and parents may consider advocating for themselves, how speech-language pathologists […]