IFA Congresses

The Use of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) in a Group Setting with Adults who Stutter

Details: Category: Joint World Congress 2018 Proceedings

Koichi MORI¹

¹National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities (NRCD), Japan This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract. Stuttering in adulthood is chronic and persistent. Its treatment typically requires many and frequent sessions, which may not be practical for some people who stutter (PWS), and also for clinicians in Japan due to their scarcity. Although the primary reason for using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is to improve the success rate and overall quality of life (QOL) of PWS, it also enables to relax therapy scheduling. In this study, stuttering was theorized as an assembly of vicious cycle with subconscious conditioned responses, unhelpful cognition and maladaptive coping behaviors. Also postulated was normal speaking capability for most of PWS. The therapy goal was to enable PWS to use their innate ability to speak fluently. For this to be realized, (a) the goal of fluency should be replaced by better communication irrespective of stuttering because maladaptive coping behaviors are triggered by the intent "not to stutter," (b) attention control away from stuttering has to be learned, and (c) how to produce natural speech consciously in any given situation should be learned. Also required are (d) challenges to speak before checking for difficult words. With (a), fluency may be a byproduct of improved communication, but the latter alone should be enough for most PWS in order to participate and play a full role in the society. For (b) and (c) daily mindfulness meditation and speech shadowing should be practiced (5--10 min each). (d) is partially achieved by behavioral therapies specific to stuttering. Special care is needed for those who also clutter. The current group format comprising five 3-hour sessions over 5 weeks generated positive results.

The Effects of Reduced Articulation Rate in Caregivers and Preschool Children Who Stutter

Details: Category: Joint World Congress 2018 Proceedings

Jean SAWYER¹, Heidi M. HARBERS², and Takahisa NAGASE³

¹Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

²Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

³Midstate College, Peoria, Illinois This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract. The characteristics of slower articulation rate that facilitate fluency have not been identified. Three 15-minute conversations between 17 preschool children who stutter and their caregivers were recorded at three different articulation rates for the caregivers. The mean number of disfluencies in the children’s speech was significantly smaller during slower rates of the caregivers. An analysis of several measures of language output revealed that children’s language was largely unchanged. Children reduced their number of utterances when caregivers’ rates were slow. Caregivers’ language changed most when articulation was slowed, and included fewer utterances, smaller mean length of utterance, and less lexical diversity.

Three-Pronged Approach to the Conceptualization of Cluttering (TPA-CC)

Details: Category: Joint World Congress 2018 Proceedings

Florence MYERS¹, Susanne COOK^2,3,and Charley ADAMS^2,4

¹Adelphi University, Garden City, NY USA This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

²International Cluttering Association

³Fairfax County Public Schools, VA USA This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

⁴University of South Carolina, SC USA This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract. A recent survey of 70 speech-language pathologists indicated that many clinicians feel they need to learn more about the nature of cluttering (Cook & Adams, 2016). At the 2016 American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association convention, the Executive Board of the International Cluttering Association formed an ad-hoc committee to develop a functional, consensus-driven definition of cluttering to help facilitate greater understanding of the nature of cluttering. The committee considered certain premises: that a ‘definition’ of cluttering requires much more research; that reliance on words alone to describe cluttering is not sufficient for the understanding of cluttering; that listening to samples of cluttered speech is obligatory toward understanding the perceptual nature of cluttering; that there is great benefit to be gained by learning from insights shared by people with cluttering (PWC) about their communication. The Three-Pronged Approach for the Conceptualization of Cluttering (TPA-CC) was thus formulated, unveiled at the World Congress in Hiroshima and subsequently uploaded on the International Cluttering Association website to be universally available to professionals and nonprofessionals.

Stuttering and Mental Health: International advocacy efforts for awareness and treatment

Details: Category: Joint World Congress 2018 Proceedings

Mark IRWIN^1*, Gerald MAGUIRE², and Annie BRADBERRY³

¹International Fluency Association This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

² National Stuttering Association This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

³International Stuttering Association This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract: The stuttering disorder has been shown to be associated with the same quality of life impairment as stroke, diabetes and heart disease (Blumgart, Tran, & Craig, 2010) but it receives far less funding and is still poorly understood. Why is this so? What can be done? Thispaper sets out to discuss a possible solution to this situation through a particular consideration of stuttering and mental health. It follows an initiative of the International Fluency Association’s Self Help and Advocacy (SHA) Committee which had agreed in early 2018 to request the stuttering community adopt the concept of Stuttered Speech Syndrome where Social Anxiety Disorder, which is also known to negatively impact quality of life and fluency, interweaves with stuttering. The aim is to provide weight to long-standing research-based recommendations that speech language pathologists routinely screen for Social Anxiety Disorder and, where positive, collaborate with a licensed mental health professional in multi-disciplinary care. The need for this concept has been agreed by the National Stuttering Association and the International Stuttering Association.

*Corresponding author

Voices of Experience - Perspectives on Therapy Type and Need

Details: Category: Joint World Congress 2018 Proceedings

Mark IRWIN^1* and John STEGGLES²

¹International Fluency Association This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

²International Stuttering Association This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract. The speech disruption of Stuttering is restrictive, but any interweaving Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is much more restrictive. That is, in addition to experiencing dysfluency, to also suffer the shame, embarrassment, frustration and fear of stuttering to such an extent it causes a cycle of more stuttering, avoidance of social interaction, psychiatric ill health, and significant impairment of academic and career achievement, is more than just a speech problem. Awareness of this fact is difficult to make given both conditions are referred to as Stuttering (now given the term Childhood Onset Fluency Disorder). The inability to differentiate these conditions succinctly has negative implications for public awareness messages and therapy. It restricts awareness of Social Anxiety Disorder by speech therapists as well as people who stutter, and therefore restricts the likelihood of referral for multi-disciplinary care. It also causes confusion with discussions of recovery. Has there been recovery from stuttering, recovery from SAD or recovery from both? The two authors make reference to their own contrasting personal experiences to highlight these issues and present a case for naming stuttering subtypes based on the presence or absence of SAD.