Virtual Learning

Virtual Learning by The Stuttering Foundation is an online series of free, interactive workshops with a variety of offerings for speech-language pathologists, parents, and individuals who stutter.

The series includes monthly offerings ranging from clinical training opportunities, to parent education, to a platform for people who stutter of all ages to share their stories. Sessions are moderated by many of the world’s leading clinicians, researchers, and self-help advocates — bringing learning and collaboration to you.

Are you All Ears?: Active Mindful Listening for Ourselves and Others

Speakers: James Panico, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville; Scott Palasik, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, University of Akron

Date: January 22, 2025

Time: 6-7:30 pm (Eastern Time)

Click to Register

Description: Speech-language pathology has long valued the importance of listening as a foundation to counsel and connect with clients who stutter. Clinicians must be able to communicate effectively while respecting the needs, values, and cultural/linguistic background of their clients, family members, and caregivers. This experiential session will focus on mindful-active listening as a vital skill for therapists in cultivating client well-being. It will address empathic listening, the psychology behind listening, and practical and functional strategies for therapists to engage in listening to create effective communication between clients, families, and SLPs. Clinical examples provided will emphasize specific concepts.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will be able to:

Explain the importance of active and effective listening skills to the profession of speech-language pathology.
Explain the importance of active and effective listening skills for client well-being.
Discuss strategies of active effective listening skills.

Details:

Target Audience: Speech-Language Pathologists, Graduate Students
There is no fee for this event.
*This course is not eligible for CEUs at this time
Please register if available for the live event only. A recording may be available at a later date on our streaming site for a small fee.

James Panico, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is an Associate Professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville where he teaches courses in stuttering, clinical methods, professional issues, and counseling in addition to clinical supervision. His primary research interests include listener perceptions of stuttering.

Scott Palasik, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is an Associate Professor at the University of Akron. He teaches courses in Stuttering, Counseling, Voice Disorders and supervises graduate students. He researches mindfulness, acceptance and commitment therapy, and social cognitive perceptions with people who stutter. He’s also co-host of the Act To Live Podcast.

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Jack Paar

While Jack Paar is among the most prominent of the entertainers on the Stuttering Foundation’s list of Famous People Who Stutter, he deserves special recognition as he was among the first to openly address his stuttering in public. As host of The Tonight Show from 1957-1962, he spoke of his difficulties as a stuttering child and teenager, giving hope to young people.

Dave Taylor

Dave Taylor has been on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter for many years, but probably few people know all of the unique accomplishments of this former hockey great who was born on December 4, 1955, in Levack, Ontario.

Alan Rabinowitz

Alan Rabinowitz, Ph.D., who passed away in 2018, was an explorer, wildlife conservationist, and author. He established the Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve in northern Myanmar, which is about the size of the state of Vermont.

His love for animals began when he was very young.

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.

Lewis Carroll

The recent Disney version of Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice in Wonderland, garnered a great deal of media hype. Even though the mainstream media has not made mention that Carroll was a person who stuttered, his family history gives credence to the discovery of the genetic link to stuttering. Carroll was born to parents who were first cousins; almost all of their eleven children, three girls and seven boys, struggled with stuttering past childhood.