StutterTalk

Dr. Marie-Christine Franken

Dr. Marie-Christine Franken and Caroline de Sonneville-Koedoot discuss their eagerly awaited, just published, rigorous scientific study Direct versus Indirect Treatment for Preschool Children who Stutter: The RESTART Randomized Trial. A major finding reported in the study and on StutterTalk today is that treatment results for Lidcombe and RESTART-DCM treatment methods are very similar at 18 months post treatment onset. In response to a question formulated from this Stuttering Brain blog post, Dr. Franken shares on StutterTalk today that “At this moment I think it would be unscientific to claim that the Lidcombe Program is the best stuttering treatment.”

Caroline de Sonneville-Koedoot

Franken, de Sonneville-Koedoot and their colleagues conducted a randomized controlled trial with an 18 month follow-up with 199 children who stutter between the ages of 3-6. All subjects had been stuttering for at least 6 months. 99 children received the Lidcombe Program treatment, a direct treatment. 100 children received the RESTART-DCM treatment, an indirect treatment. The researchers concluded that “results imply that at 18 months post treatment onset, both treatments are roughly equal in treating developmental stuttering in ways that surpass expectations of natural recovery.”

[Update – a few days after this interview, Dr. Tom Weidig at the Stuttering Brain blog published this excellent post The most important conclusions from the Franken study on early-childhood intervention.]

Dr. Marie-Christine Franken is a Specialist Fluency Therapist and the Speech-Language Research Lead at the Speech & Hearing Department of Erasmus University MC in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Dr. Franken and her team of researchers published a much discussed 2005 pilot study which compared Lidcombe Treatment and DCM Treatment. Dr. Franken recently appeared on StutterTalk to answer listener questions about Preschool Stuttering and Its Treatment (Ep. 487).

Caroline de Sonneville-Koedoot is a PhD student at Erasmus University, in the Department of Health Policy and Management, the Netherlands, and a speech-language pathologist. Her current research focuses on the cost-effectiveness of therapy for children who stutter.

Links related to today’s episode:

* RESTART-DCM Method

* Lidcombe Program Treatment Guide (January 2014)

* StutterTalk episodes related to Lidcombe Treatment

* Randomised controlled trial of the Lidcombe programme of early stuttering intervention (2005)<...

Nick Weaver, COO and co-founder of Blue Delta Jeans

Nick Weaver, COO and co-founder of Blue Delta Jeans, talks about succeeding in business, using humor in communication, stuttering being just one part of who he is, how stuttering can be an advantage in business, what he learned from his parents and so much more.

Nick Weaver was recently featured in the article, Finding the Perfect Fit, published by the Stuttering Foundation and in a Stuttering Foundation video from their 2015 New York City gala. Mr. Weaver was the keynote speaker at the 2015 FRIENDS Convention. Nick is a role model, an entrepreneur, an app developer, a husband, a father, a person who stutters and much more.

“[Stuttering] has turned into my conversation piece…When you are going to a business meeting it is something to talk about other than business. My stuttering has become my business tool. That’s how I break the ice…It lets people let down their own guard a little bit. That’s why I’m good at moving people. That’s why I can negotiate contracts. Stuttering is my blessing.” –Nick Weaver

The video below features Mr. Weaver discussing Blue Delta Jeans while stuttering openly.

Caryn Herring, Joel Korte and Roisin McManus of the StutterTalk B Team chat about the recent National Stuttering Association (NSA) conference that Caryn and Roisin attended. They compare and contrast this to Joel’s most recent experience at a trade show with his company, Chase Bliss Audio. The B Team wrap up by discussing the keynote speech at the NSA conference by Leana S. Wen, M.D.

Jon Rosenwasser

Jon Rosenwasser joins Peter Reitzes at the FRIENDS 18th annual convention in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mr. Rosenwasser discusses being a parent of a child who stutters, living with stuttering as opposed to coping with stuttering, secondary stuttering behaviors, learning to talk about talking, peeling away the onion of stuttering avoidance, coming from a long line of people who stutter, working on co-occurring cluttering and much more. Mr. Rosenwasser shares how exciting it is for his children who stutter to meet other children who stutter and to experience different types of stuttering.

Jon Rosenwasser works on the U.S Senate Select Committee on Intelligence as Minority Budget Director for the Vice Chairman of the committee, Dianne FeinStein. Mr. Rosenwasser is a person who stutters, the father of two children who stutter and is part of four generations of stuttering in his family.

Grant Siegmund, 14 years old

Grant Siegmund, 14 years old, joins Peter Reitzes at the FRIENDS 18th annual convention in Raleigh, North Carolina. Grant has been attending FRIENDS conventions for about five years and stresses how much his confidence has grown as a result.

 

Jackson Hunter, 20 years old, grew up with FRIENDS

Jackson Hunter, 20 years old, joins Peter Reitzes at the FRIENDS 18th annual convention in Raleigh, North Carolina. Jackson is attending his 7th or 8th FRIENDS Convention and refers to FRIENDS as the most amazing place in the entire world. Jackson discusses the confidence he brings home from FRIENDS which helps him form new relationships.

 

Emily Purkey, 16 years old, attending her first FRIENDS Convention

Emily Purkey joins Peter Reitzes at the FRIENDS 18th annual convention in Raleigh, North Carolina. Emily is 16 years old and is attending her first FRIENDS convention. Ms. Purkey discusses the importance of just stuttering over chasing fluency, speech tools being “tricks”,  of using stuttering as a social filter, her very positive experience at Camp SAY and much more. Emily observes that society would not ask fluent people to stutter, so why do we ask people who stutter to be fluent. Emily shares how FRIENDS instantly became family to her and that people accept her without judgement.

26 year old Evan Totty, a PhD student attending FRIENDS for the first time

Evan Totty, a 26 year old PhD student in Economics at Purdue University, joins Peter Reitzes at the FRIENDS 18th annual convention in Raleigh, North Carolina. Mr. Totty discusses seeking out pubic speaking opportunities and how helpful it has been for him to embrace the ideas that stuttering is okay and it is okay to be a person who stutters.  When asked to share one very meaningful thing he has learned in speech therapy, Evan discussed how much it has helped him to tell others that he stutters when presenting in his field and when student teaching.

Dhruv Gupta

Dhruv Gupta joins Peter Reitzes at the FRIENDS 18th annual convention in Raleigh, North Carolina and discusses how self help in India resembles the early days of self help in the United States. Mr. Gupta is asked about a crowdsourcing fundraiser he is spearheading titled Support Stammering in India. Dhruv describes this fundraiser as a “one-year focused intervention for people who stammer (PWS) in India of all ages to strengthen self-help groups, create & distribute self-help resources, organize workshops/conferences and enrich current therapeutic practices.”

This is the Indian link to the campaign. Dhruv mentioned this article, Running Self Help Groups/support groups which was adapted from a resource written by Michael Sugarman.

Dhruv Gupta is a sustainability advisor at cBalance, a volunteer with The Indian Stammering Association, and the founder of Speak: Stammering Foundation. Dhruv recently facilitated a two day FRIENDS workshop in India and has appeared a number of times on StutterTalk.

Peter Reitzes, MA, CCC-SLP is a person who stutters, President of StutterTalk, a school based speech-language pathologist and author of His Name is Peter Cottontail: My Story Passing as Fluent in the book Stuttering: Inspiring Stories and Professional Wisdom, published by StutterTalk.

Grace McMahon, 16 years old, attending her 7th FRIENDS convention

Grace McMahon, 16 years old, joins Peter Reitzes at the FRIENDS 18th annual convention in Raleigh, North Carolina. Grace is attending her 7th FRIENDS convention this summer. Ms. McMahon discusses tearing down the fears of stuttering, stuttering openly, speaking to her entire school about stuttering and her change from focussing on fluency all the time to working on stuttering openly and being happy with herself. Grace shares how both she and her parents have moved from wanting fluency to embracing that stuttering is okay. Grace has a brother who stutters and shared during this episode that “We both stuttering openly; it’s pretty great.”