In May 2009, the National Stuttering Association (NSA) conducted a survey to gather information about stuttering. They received responses from 1,235 people, including 686 adults and 31 teens who stutter.
The survey showed some very positive things including:
Changing one’s attitude toward speaking and stuttering was the most successful therapy approach for both children and adults.
One third of the adult and teen respondents had had therapy from a Board-Recognized Specialist in Fluency Disorders (BRS-FD). Those who worked with a specialist were more likely to have had a successful therapy experience and were more likely to have attended a stuttering support group.
In general, parents reported more successful speech therapy from university speech clinics, private-practice clinicians and intensive programs than from school speech therapy.
Children who work with a BRS-FD also are significantly less likely to avoid speaking situations, significantly less likely to find that stuttering interferes with social and family life, significantly less likely to be embarrassed about stuttering, and are more likely to have had a successful therapy experience.
The survey collected some great information that can help you when making decisions about stuttering therapy. You can download the full report from the NSA.
Thanks to the NSA for their diligent work in supporting and learning about people who stutter!
An interesting discussion is taking place in the comments of our May 2009 post “A great research article on the SpeechEasy.” We’d like to bring this exchange to the forefront rather than have it remain virtually buried in last May’s archives. The post featured a short video of Chamonix introducing a research article by then-AIS intern, now PhD (congratulations!), Ryan Pollard on the SpeechEasy, an altered auditory feedback device that was developed to reduce stuttering.
Dr. Joseph Kalinowski, a professor at East Carolina University and co-inventor of the SpeechEasy, commented earlier this month on that post. Here is his comment:
I “graduated” from CRC – the center Cathy ran in 1981 and that was a life changing experience. Her work, dedication and all she does for those who stutter are remarkable gifts to all of us who stutter. I personally will never be able to repay her for her efforts in my life but my colleagues and I have, in some small way paid it forward to others who stutter. Our work with the Speech Easy and altered auditory feedback (AAF) is more of a tribute than a challenge to all those who work so hard in the behavioral/cognitive modality. (more…)
Thank you to Craig for taking the time to share his experiences with cluttering.
Cluttering is defined as “a fluency disorder characterized by a rate that is perceived to be abnormally rapid, irregular or both for the speaker (although measured syllable rates may not exceed normal limits). These rate abnormalities further are manifest in one or more of the following symptoms: an excessive number of dysfluencies, the majority of which are not typical of people who stutter; the frequent placement of pauses and use of prosodic patterns that do not conform to syntactic and semantic constraints; and inappropriate (usually excessive) degrees of coarticulation among sounds, especially in multisyllabic words.” [1] (more…)
Chamonix explains the latest news in our field, the discovery of a genetic link to stuttering.
For more information, read this CNN article and the original article in the New England Journal of Medicine. And as Chamonix said, check back here for our reactions to this announcement and what it might mean for people who stutter and their families.
Susan just finished the January 2010 intensive program last week. She sent us this great story about her trip back to Indiana:
I thought you’d like to hear something funny I did yesterday in the airport. I had a long delay in Newark and then a 3-hour layover in Chicago, so I pulled out my stuttering surveys! I surveyed a whole bunch of people, and it was actually way more fun than just sitting there. I got some nice compliments on my speech, too.
Part of the reason I did this was because I wanted to prove to myself that my speech tools worked outside of NY, and they did! They worked in New Jersey and then in Chicago. It was a good way to build up a number of positive experiences for myself. On the Challenge Scale, this ranked even higher than the Subway Challenge because I had to actually approach people directly in a place where people aren’t particularly thrilled to be, and introducing myself to other people is one of the hardest things for me. (more…)
This Monday’s meeting of our kids’ stuttering therapy group was the best one yet. Carl talks about an activity that helped the kids reveal deep-seated feelings about their stuttering.
And here’s a still picture of the whiteboards and the speech lobster (click to zoom):
At the beginning of an intensive stuttering therapy program, we have each client draw what their stuttering, like a representation of it or how it makes them feel. Then at the end of the three-week program, we have them draw their stuttering again. It’s like a before and after insight into how our clients view their stuttering.
Here are the drawings from the January intensive program group.
Stage and screen actor James Earl Jones is widely known as the voice of film icons Darth Vader (Star Wars) and Mufasa (The Lion King). However, for 10 years in his childhood, that now-legendary voice was not heard by anyone at all.
From the ages of 5 to 14, Jones refused to speak due to his severe stutter. A high school English teacher encouraged him to finally take up speaking again. And of course, it was his voice and speech that carried him to the illustrious career that he enjoys today.
Here is a recent CNN interview with James Earl Jones where he addresses his childhood stuttering and looks back on his career (he talks about his childhood stuttering at 2:47 in the embedded video below).
