On Saturday, October 20, University of Iowa’s Department of Speech Pathology & Audiology will host a one-day conference for children, teens, and adults who stutter, their families, and speech-language pathologists.
Co-sponsor of this conference is FRIENDS, the National Association of Young People Who Stutter. Patricia Zebrowski, PhD, an audiologist at the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Center at The University of Iowa, talks more about the conference:
Who is most likely to stutter?
Stuttering begins usually around two to five years of age, and typically 75 percent of kids are going to get better on their own. We are most concerned with the 25 percent who require some form of therapy in order to make changes in their speech.
Is stuttering genetic?
Actually there’s about a 50 percent contribution to the problem of stuttering by family members, so some of the risk factors are probably inherited.
Can people, especially children, be trained not to stutter or grow out of the speech problem?
As I said earlier, about 75 percent of young kids will get better within 12 to 18 months after the problem first begins. For the 25 percent who don’t make those changes, there are numerous therapy approaches that can be used to help them develop more normal speech fluency.
Tell us more about the conference on Saturday the 20th. Where will it be held, and what time does it start/end?
The conference will be at the Department of Speech Pathology at the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Clinic on The University of Iowa campus on Hawkins Drive. It starts at 9:30 a.m. and ends around 4:30 p.m. It will be for kids who stutter, their families, and there’ll be continuing ed presentations for speech-language pathologists who are interested in the problem of stuttering.
What is this conference designed to do?
The main goal is for families of kids who stutter and the children themselves to interact, meet other people who also stutter, and also for speech-language pathologists to learn about the problem of stuttering, hear from parents of children who stutter about their concerns, and get some continuing education credits in terms of stuttering treatment.
You mentioned that families and health care professionals are invited. Talk about the importance of having that entire spectrum covered—the child who stutters and then professionals, as well as family members that are impacted.
There’s evidence that really the most effective therapy—regardless of the approach or the technique that the clinician might use—stems from an alliance between the family and the speech-language pathologist so that both understand the goals of intervention and both parents and children who stutter and the clinician make sure that they understand the values that each places on both speech change and therapy.
What is the format of the conference?
There’ll be lots of opportunity for people to interact with each other. There will be panel sessions, groups for kids, and groups for parents and speech-language pathologists. Most of it will be group interaction. There will be some workshop formats for speech-language pathologists, as well.
What do you hope the conference will do for those who stutter?
I hope people who stutter will recognize that there are many support services available to them and some of the most powerful ones are national support organizations such as FRIENDS and the National Stuttering Association. But mostly for families to understand that they’re not alone. Sometimes stuttering is a relatively low incidence problem. Families of kids who stutter and kids who stutter have never met somebody else who stutters, and so they feel that they’re the only ones. This conference is intended to help them recognize that there are others who share their challenges and there’s help available.
If someone is interested in attending this weekend, is there room for participants?
Absolutely. Come to the meeting at 9 in the morning and there will be onsite registration.
How do they go about signing up beforehand or getting more information?
Call my office, 319-335-8735, and if I’m not available, leave a voice message.
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