Therapists from Around the World Attend Workshop on Stuttering

The following 23 speech therapists were chosen to attend an intensive workshop on stuttering therapy:

Hillary Baker, Collierville, TN; Kerri G. Berard, Fort Worth, TX; Armin Bings, Koln, Germany; Leetal Cuperman, Montreal, QC Canada; Ana Karina Espinoza Pena, Santiago, Chile; Shirley ZiJun Feng, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Rudine Fetahaj, Prishtine, Republic of Kosovo; Sandra Rosa Gimenez, Campinas Brazil; Ladan Khoshbin, Binghampton, NY; Michelle Kusturiss, Oreland, PA; Paige A. Lane, Bangor, ME; Faith Leung Hiu Lam, Kowloon, Hong Kong; Dimitra Makaroni, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Maria Silvia Mazzocchi, Parma, Italy; Rebekka Langmo Pavlak, Oslo, Norway; Kaisa Punkeri, Helsinki, Finland; Angelica Bernabe Roman, East Lansing, MI; Matteo Scalabrin, Sedriano, Milan, Italy; Avrohom Steinmetz, Brooklyn, NY; Liveem Mariam Tharakan, Stockton, CA; Amanda Wells, Moscow, ID; Katherine Winters, Cincinnati, OH; Claudia Maria Zapata, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina.

These therapists participated in the workshop, Using Cognitive Approaches to Working with People Who Stutter, in Boston, Massachusetts, from June 3-7, 2024. It is cosponsored by the Stuttering Foundation and Boston University.

“Since 1985, we have conducted these intensive workshops in order to increase the pool of speech-language pathologists trained in the latest techniques for the treatment of stuttering,” said Jane Fraser, president of the Stuttering Foundation. “We are particularly excited to have Ali Berquez and Elaine Kelman from the Michael Palin Centre in London to lead this year’s training.”

“Those who are selected to participate already have professional experience and are highly motivated,” added Caroline Brinkert, M.S., of Boston University, and coordinator of the Workshop. “Although the Foundation provides full scholarships, many give up their vacations or part of their income to attend. Our task is to provide a forum where they can hone their skills.”

This year’s Workshop attendees are already providing stuttering therapy from California to Maine, from Brazil to Hong Kong to Malaysia.

The Stuttering Foundation estimates that more than 80 million people stutter worldwide. It notes that the more than 400 past graduates of the Boston Workshop program have created a “ripple effect” back in their home communities as they continue to share their knowledge.

The Stuttering Foundation is a nonprofit organization that has been helping those who stutter since 1947. For more information, visit our websites at www.StutteringHelp.org and www.tartamudez.org.

Back row: Ladan Koshbin, Matteo Scalabrin, Paige Lane, Maria Silvia Mazzochi, Armin Bings, Katie Winters, Kerri Berard, Kaisa Punkeri, Leetal Cuperman, Rebekka Pavlak

Center row: Sandra Gimenez, Claudia Zapata, Michelle Kusturiss, Avrohom Steinmetz, Angelica Bernabe Roman, Ana Karina Espinoza Pena, Amanda, Rudine Fetahaj, Faith Leung Hiu Lam, Dimitra Makaroni, Liveem Thakaram, Hillary Baker, Shirley Feng

Front row: Sarah Delpeche, Elaine Kelman, Caroline Brinkert, Ali Berquez

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.

Kenyon Martin

Kenyon Martin, the basketball sensation who was named to the NBA’s All Star Team in 2004, joins other famous people who stutter in a new brochure. The brochure - which unfolds into a small poster - is available free of charge from The Stuttering Foundation.

The poster is intended to give children and adults who stutter inspiration as they grapple with their speech disorder.

Frank Wolf

This Virginian congressman has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1981. The longtime supporter of the Stuttering Foundation drew national attention to childhood stuttering in 2006 when he submitted an article about Tiger Woods from the SFA newsletter to the Congressional Record. The congressman is featured in the Stuttering Foundation's Famous People Who Stutter brochure.

Bob Love

Bob Love has 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.

Winston Churchill

Seeking to "remove Winston Churchill's stutter by second guessing the diagnosis" indicates neither a truthful retelling of history nor an informed opinion about a complex speech disorder, say experts in the field of speech-language pathology.

Recent news reports that quote Dr. John Mather, a Washington physician, as saying that Churchill's stutter "is a lie" brought adamant critical response from specialists in the field of stuttering and fluency disorders.