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October 17, 2017

The Good Kind Of Therapy

“Clinic!” Stella exclaimed, appalled. “A stuttering clinic?” She was mortified by this new concept she had just discovered on Google.

“Yeah, I don’t like that word either,” I said. “Would you call this place a clinic?”

“No!” she retorted, still visibly disturbed. “A clinic is for sick people. Stuttering doesn’t make you sick!”

“Well, what would you call this?”

She barely hesitated. “Therapy!” She said it with a bright smile. “But not the bad kind of therapy,” she continued quickly. “The good kind.”

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October 3, 2017

How Does Stuttering Really Work?

An episode of the podcast, "Stuff You Should Know", called “How Stuttering Works”, recently hit the airwaves. “Stuff You Should Know” (SYSK) is a popular podcast and video series published by the How Stuff Works website, with the tag line "Learn how everything works!" The show discusses a wide variety of topics and disorders, both common and unusual. This episode focused on stuttering. Hosts Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant discussed several well-researched aspects of stuttering. While many claims were articulated accurately, others seemed to be alarmingly misinterpreted.   

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November 4, 2016

Examining our expertise

How is it that a parent and clinician can share such similar beliefs about stuttering and speech therapy, and yet experience such friction when discussing these same topics?

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March 8, 2016

Stuttering: persistent vs. progressive

"This other mom told me that stuttering is progressive, and it really scared me. That means it's just going to get worse! I don't know what to do."

We had a long talk, but this experience of hers stuck with me. Stuttering is not, in fact, "progressive", but it's a term that is often thrown around and very understandably confused with another technical p-word that the "experts" use: persistent.

What's the difference, and why does it matter so much? Well, read on...

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September 27, 2015

Worthy words

This is a short self-reflection post.

I've shared with several people recently my belief that people who stutter have greater potential to become excellent overall communicators than most of the general population. Yes, stuttering is often accompanied by many unproductive "side effects" that make communication feel difficult. However, these difficulties can also be the spark for tremendous self-awareness and conscious choice-making during communication moments. 

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September 2, 2015

Fluency: A Graduate Course Outline

This course provides advanced theoretical and clinical instruction in the area of communication fluency. This course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive overview of the historical, scientific, and clinical issues surrounding fluency. In the second half of the course, students will be assigned a fluency client for hands-on experience connecting theory to practice. 

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July 17, 2015

Stuttering and Skyrim

One of my favorite stuttering explanations / response to being teased comes from a former 5th grade student of mine. I had asked him if the other kids at school ever comment on his speech.

"Well, yesterday, I was talking and this kid interrupted me while I was stuttering. He was like, 'Hey man, what's wrong with you? Do you have like a glitch or something?' So I said 'Yeah, I do.' And he was like, 'Oh, OK,' and then we kept playing."

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May 28, 2015

Can a throat injury cause stuttering?

Stuttering is in the spotlight this week, thanks to the amazing, emotional performance by 23-year-old stuttering comedian Drew Lynch on America's Got Talent. 

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March 26, 2015

The Australian Budget Lidcombe Proposal Debate: A Primer in Memes

Depending on who you are, you may or may not know that there is a heated (as in, nuclear lava bomb) discussion happening internationally right now in the speech pathology-stuttering world. The discussion revolves around a federal health care budget policy recommendation that was submitted to the Australian government by Speech Pathology Australia, advocating government funding for treatment of preschool stuttering. A number of talking points have grown out of this discussion that cover ethical, political, clinical, and philosophical notions. 

So, in the spirit of fun and efficiency, I here present a brief and highly visual summary of what has transpired thus far.

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November 12, 2014

For Parents: Speech Therapy and “Stuttering Acceptance”

Your child is six, nine, twelve. Maybe he's been stuttering since he was two or three, or maybe you just started noticing it in third grade. Maybe she went through speech therapy in preschool, or maybe it seemed more prudent to "wait and see". Maybe the stutter went away, either on its own or apparently thanks to therapy. Maybe it's fluctuated, coming and going. Maybe it's always been there, regardless of what you've tried. Maybe your child got tired of going to therapy or it was just too hard to get to appointments, or it didn't seem to work. 

Maybe you are thinking about speech therapy. For the fourth time, or for the first time. Will it help?

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