Foundation Releases New DVDs

Evidence-Based Practice and Practice-Based Evidence: Closing the Gap

Discussions about evidence-based practice often culminate in claims that there is one best approach to treatment of a particular type of client, or that we lack appropriate evidence or that clinicians lack access to what evidence we have.

In this presentation, in an effort to frame these claims more positively, Nan Bernstein Ratner, Ed.D., argues that there is both research and common-sense evidence that these claims are wrong. She also suggests that in the debate about best practices in fluency treatment, there is indeed a need to search out and integrate many sources of evidence that either support our approach to a case or suggest a need for reconsideration, adjustment or change.

Many options exist to find and use this evidence, and many more await implementation either in the clinic or in our research undertakings.

This 55-minute talk provides a range of options for both clinical researchers and practicing clinicians who want to find, use and integrate evidence of treatment effectiveness.

Click here to see this DVD in our online store

Autism Spectrum Disorders and Stuttering

There has been increased interest in understanding the variety of speech disfluency patterns among those with autism spectrum disorders.

Case studies that describe types of disfluencies have added to our knowledge base. While both stuttering and “atypical” disfluencies (final part-word repetition) have been documented, many questions remain unanswered. What treatment methods are effective? What are the priorities for improved communication? What should we expect for positive functional outcomes?

In this 2-hour presentation, Vivian Sisskin, M.S., CCC-SLP, from the University of Maryland, summarizes the literature pertaining to disfluency in autism, and provides basic principles to aid in differential diagnosis and treatment planning.

A case study, demonstrating effective treatment for final part-word repetitions, highlights a problem-solving approach to clinical management, using both learning style in autism and strategies from traditional fluency therapies.

Click here to see this DVD in our online store

From the Fall 2012 Newsletter

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Emily Blunt

Actress Emily Blunt struggled with stuttering early in her life. A teacher encouraged her to act in a school play at age 12 despite her stuttering.

Blunt’s name is prominently featured on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter.

Bob Love

The late Bob Love dreamt about being a great public speaker since his early days in Bastrop Louisiana, even though, as a young man, he could barely put two words together, let alone speak a full sentence.

In spite of his severe stuttering disability, Bob Love, the son of a sharecropper, rose to become a Chicago Bulls NBA superstar, whose records were eventually surpassed by Michael Jordan. Throughout his entire athletic career, Bob Love kept his stuttering a secret from the fans who adored him, thinking he could do his “talking” on the basketball court.

James Earl Jones

Actor James Earl Jones, a Broadway, television and movie star, was well-known for his voice as Darth Vader in Star Wars and his book Voices and Silences. Jones spoke some of the most memorable lines in the history of American film, but the man known for his voice was once afflicted with a severe stutter.

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.

King George

In November 2010, worldwide movie audiences were presented with a most interesting and unusual movie release with The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth as King George VI and Helena Bonham Carter as his wife Elizabeth.

Unfortunately, history may have forgotten the courageous and inspiring story of Prince Albert who stuttered badly and never dreamed that he would ever be king when his older brother, King Edward VIII, abruptly abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee.