Alarming Statistics Show Training Urgently Needed

A dismaying number of speech-language pathologists have little training in fluency disorders, according to a recent survey of 255 school speech-language pathologists from 16 counties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Virginia. The survey comprised of 49 questions was conducted by Glen Tellis, Ph.D., and his colleagues at College Misericordia, Dallas, Pa.

Nearly half of those responding to the survey indicated they were not comfortable working with children who stutter."

Plus, a majority of respondents did not know how to teach most stuttering modification techniques, didn't know about genetic research on stuttering and were?ÿ unaware of how to find support for those who stutter.

Many of those surveyed did not even realize that ASHA has a Special? Interest Division (SID) for fluency disorders.

Since graduating from college, 44.7 percent of the respondents hadn't attended a half-day stuttering workshop; 40.9 percent never attended a full-day stuttering workshop. On average, the SLPs had only attended 1.68 half-day workshops since graduating.

"The findings of this survey show why training workshops and conferences are more important now than ever," said Jane Fraser, president of the Stuttering Foundation. School clinicians just aren't getting the basic training they need to make a difference in children's lives. It is frustrating for all concerned SLPs, children and parents.

Download (Word document) Glen Tellis' survey results.

CELEBRITY FOCUS

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Alan Rabinowitz

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His love for animals began when he was very young.

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