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.

First, Do No Harm. How Not to Hurt When We Want to Help.

Speaker: Ryan Pollard, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BCS-F

Date:  Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Time: 12:00-1:15pm ET

Click here to register

Description: Stuttering therapy has a history of sometimes doing more harm to clients than good. The reasons for this are varied and complex, but often boil down to leaving persons who stutter with the impression—or even the conviction—that it’s not ok to stutter and use of specific management skills is the central metric of success. In this session, we will discuss how SLPs can avoid causing unintended harm, and instead, help clients uncover their own solutions by guiding them through a process of learning and self-discovery. We’ll explore how counseling around shame, acceptance, and self-advocacy can help integrate the use of management skills into a holistic therapy framework.

Learning Outcomes:

You will be able to:

  1. Identify ways that SLPs may unintentionally reinforce clients’ fears about stuttered speech
  2. Employ counseling techniques that help clients explore why they may or may not want to change how they speak  
  3. Help clients situate stuttering management skills within a larger framework that includes acceptance, self-advocacy, desensitization, and subjective well-being

Details:

  • Target audience: speech-language pathologists and 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.

Bio: Ryan Pollard, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BCS-F is an assistant clinical professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. He has taught graduate fluency disorders and counseling courses for over 12 years, and has published and presented in the areas of counseling, fluency disorders, health care equity, and disability studies.