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Julia Kerrigan, B.A., current second year Master's student and the University of Iowa, and Shelley B. Brundage, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BCS-SCF, Fellow-ASHA, join host, Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP, to discuss a recent paper published in the Journal of Communication Disorders, 'Lived Experiences of Children who Stutter in Their Own Voices.' The authors begin by sharing a bit about their professional journeys into stuttering, research areas of interest, and then dive into discussing their motivation to further explore and document the lived experiences of young people who stutter where they emphasize the real need to increase this particular area of research within our field of stuttering. They proceed to walk through their design, findings, impressions, and areas of clinical consideration and application.

Lived Experiences of Children who Stutter in Their Own Voices
Julia S. Kerrigan; Shelley Brundage
September 2024
Journal of Communication Disorders
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2024.106468

FluencyBank

Julia Kerrigan, B.A. is a current second-year Master’s student at the University of Iowa and a Teaching Artist with the SPACE Community and Arts program.

Shelley B. Brundage, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BCS-SCF, Fellow-ASHA, is professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the George Washington University (GWU). She is a certified SLP and a board-certified specialist in stuttering, cluttering, and fluency. She is the co-chair of the tri-annual Oxford Stuttering and Cluttering Research Conference. Her research addresses clinical questions that enhance the lives of persons who stutter, by improving procedures for assessment, treatment, and clinical education in stuttering. Recent work has merged her expertise in assessing student learning outcomes with her expertise in the development and use of virtual reality technologies; this work has led to grants, publications, and awards for innovation. She teaches graduate courses on stuttering and research methods and is the recipient of numerous awards for teaching excellence and mentoring. She is the co-author of two books, the seventh edition of A Handbook on Stuttering and Writing Scientific Research in Communication Sciences and Disorders.

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Daniel Shaw, M.S., CCC-SLP, a pediatric SLP at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center in Nashville, TN, joins host, Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP, to talk all things school-age and adolescent stuttering assessment. This episode was envisioned to speak to the SLP who has an introductory understanding of stuttering, but is hoping to increase their competency and effectiveness in a way that works within their limited time and resources. Think about this clinical conversation as if you decided to call up a colleague or friend who has more experience and ask, 'Help! I have a pediatric stuttering assessment coming up. Could you walk me through what you do and why?'

While those emerging in their clinical comfort and expertise in stuttering will gain the most from this episode, there are plenty of clinical examples and insights shared that could be of support and benefit to all. Daniel and Sara walk listeners through: pre-assessment considerations, assessment planning and decision making, components to comprehensive assessment, both informal and formal options to assessing various areas, and plenty of clinical insights and considerations weaved throughout!

Resource mentioned:

• The School-Age Child Who Stutters: Working Effectively With Attitudes and Emotions Workbook
• Consensus Guidelines for the Assessments of Individuals Who Stutter Across the Lifespan in American Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 30(6), 2379-2393 (2021). (Brundage, S.B., et al, 2021)

Daniel Shaw, M.S., CCC-SLP is a pediatric SLP at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center in Nashville, TN, where he splits his time as the stuttering team lead for the pediatric program and as a lead SLP in the Preschool for Children with Autism. He also serves as associate director for Camp TALKS, a summer camp for school-age children who stutter, and as a member of the Autism Diagnostic team. Given the wide array of needs in the hospital, he provides support services across the lifespan. His passion lies in helping individuals who stutter explore acceptance of stuttering and experience the joy of communication. Prior to his role at Vanderbilt, Daniel served in the public school system in Nashville, TN.

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Naomi Rodgers, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Ginger Collins, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, and Tim McCarren, M.A., CCC-SLP join host, Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP to discuss a recent research collaboration aiming to explore and better understand how SLPs can best support adolescents who stutter for life after high school through transition planning.

Naomi, Ginger, and Tim discuss the need for better guidelines and support for SLPs who support high schoolers who stutter within transition planning, more about transition planning in general, as well as understanding the legal aspects of transition plans for high school students. They share findings from their study's focus groups, specific feedback from various stakeholders, use of their discussion guide (linked below), and finally, offer practical tips for school-based SLPs.

This is a really fabulous and rich episode guaranteed to support SLPs who work with students who stutter across the age span, but particularly those who work with adolescents and want to understand how to best prepare students for the next phases of their lives. A must listen and a very timely back-to-school release!

Resources mentioned:

• Postsecondary Transition Planning with Students Who Stutter Discussion Guide
• Pre-print of article (under review)
• Job Accommodation Network (askJAN)
• ASHA: Post Secondary Transition Planning
• NSA Career Success

Bios:
Dr. Naomi Rodgers is an assistant professor at the University Iowa where she directs the Iowa Stuttering Lab and teaches courses in stuttering, counseling, and clinical methods. Her experiences as a person who stutters and speech therapist inspire her research on the cognitive, emotional, and social aspects of stuttering and stuttering therapy, with a particular interest in these topics in adolescence. She is active in the stuttering support community, leading the Iowa City chapter of the National Stuttering Association and also volunteering for FRIENDS (the National Association of Young People Who Stutter). She also co-directs UI SHINE, which is a summer program at the University of Iowa for young people who stutter or who are Deaf/hard of hearing.

Dr. Ginger Collins is a professor at the University of Montana, where she is also the Program Director. Dr. Collins directs the Motivational Adolescent Research in Vocabulary and Expressive Literacy (AKA- MARVEL) Lab and is a founding member of the Structured Word Inquiry Research Vanguard (AKA- SWIRV). Dr. Collins teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in language and literacy disorders and a graduate course in stuttering. Her research is primarily focused on literacy interventions targeting morphological knowledge and preparing adolescents for life after school through thoughtful transition planning.

Tim McCarren is a speech language pathologist with Hopkins Public Schools in Hopkins, Minnesota. Tim also leads the Twin Cities adult chapter of the National Stuttering Association. During the summer, he participates in two different camps for kids who stutter. He co-leads the Sioris Family Camp for Kids Who Stutter, a day camp through the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and he is a member of the clinical team at Star Lake Out Loud, a sleep-away camp in Northern Minnesota. Tim is also a person who stutters, and loves to incorporate theatre and improv activities as ways to introduce risk taking, spontaneous communication, community building, and acceptance.