Navigating the Challenges of Stuttering Intervention - Dr. Jessica Fanning, CCC-SLP

Classic stuttering theories are reviewed in the context of how those concepts can be still be useful in experimenting with or describing stuttering to clients of all ages. Recent research in genetic, neurological, and motor bases of stuttering are discussed in order to provide clinicians with a solid foundation on which to evaluate research and select intervention approaches or programs. Methods for data collection and tracking are discussed so clinicians can maintain practice-based evidence when striving to represent themselves as 'evidence-based practitioners'. Stuttering behaviors and intervention strategies are discussed and demonstrated to provide clinicians with a coordinated, accurate, and useful set of fluency terms. Intervention approaches are discussed to help clinicians understand the polar philosophical ends of therapy in order to better understand what it means to be a clinician that provides an 'integrated approach' to stuttering intervention. Within the discussion of using 'integrated intervention approaches', the utility and limitations of using altered auditory feedback devices during treatment are briefly discussed. Stages of intervention are summarized and corresponding activities are presented to demonstrate how clinicians can guide clients through the first few weeks and months of therapy. This seminar serves to provide an overview of recent research, current intervention approaches, methods for evaluating existing therapy programs, and functional definitions, activities, and examples to assist clinicians in getting started with (or remembering how to serve) clients who stutter.