Season 5 - Episode 10: Autism and Stuttering with Marie Halpin

Marie Halpin, BSc (Hons), CertMRCSLT, HCPC, a Senior Speech and Language Therapist in Ireland, joins host Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP, to discuss effectively working with autistic individuals who also stutter (stammer). Marie walks us through terminology and emphasizes the importance of language and the words we use within therapy. She explores neurodiversity affirming zones of practice as foundational to our work, the importance of learning and taking the lead from the autistic community, and general considerations for best supporting autistic clients in a total communication, strength-based manner. Finally,  Marie discusses Palin PCI considerations when working with autistic children, as well as walking us through a research study (linked below).

Article discussed:
'Palin parent-child interaction therapy with children with autism spectrum disorder and stuttering' in the Journal of Communication Disorders, 2022.

Resources mentioned:

• Recent Virtual Learning  by Stuttering Foundation, 'Working with Young Autistic Children who Stutter' with Gemma Clarke
• Stammering Plus training at MPC
• Marie on Twitter @Mariechalpin
• The Therapist Neurodiversity Collective
• The Autistic Self Advocacy Network
• Em Hammond @Neurowild_, Elaine McGreevy, Emily Price (Lee)
• Divergent Perspectives

Marie Halpin has over 11 years of experience working as a SLT. She has a wealth of expertise working with children and young people in health, education and specialist services. Her areas of clinical expertise include Autism and Stammering, and with a particular interest in neurodivergent-affirming support. Her background includes a number of specialist SLT roles in the UK,  which lead to being trained in a range of related therapies, including LevelUp Energy Meters, Attention Autism, Intensive Interaction, TalkingMats, SCERTS, Hanen More Than Words and TalkAbility, Makaton, Lámh etc. This role included working within an integrated neurodevelopmental autism diagnostic team, delivering therapy within mainstream schools and autism classes/special schools, as well as delivering trainings to families, school staff and other professionals. She also worked as a specialist at the Michael Palin Centre for many years. This involved specialist consultations and clinical work with children, young people and their families. She is trained in a wide range of therapies for people who stammer, including Palin PCI, Family Communication Skills Therapy, The Lidcocmbe Programme, The Camperdown Program, CBT, ACT, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy etc. Marie regularly presents training on the intersectionality of autism and stammering and has co-authored research on autism and stammering, as well as having contributed to other related publications. She developed and continues to deliver the training ‘Stammering Plus’ which runs at the MPC since May 2019, and she has presented on this at international levels, including at the Oxford Dysfluency Conference 2021. In recent years, Marie has been working in Ireland, leading on national training for teachers related to SLCN and provision of sustained in-school support to build capacity of education staff in supporting all students (implementing universal design for learning). She continues to work in Ireland.