alaska speech-language hearing association

About the "Stuttering-Affirming Assessment and Therapy Across the Lifespan" Workshop:

Views about stuttering have been changing. Whereas stuttering was one primarily seen as a “speech disorder” that needed to “remediated” in order for speakers to succeed in life, the field has been increasingly moving toward a neurodiversity-affirming perspective that recognizes stuttered speech as the natural result of neurological differences in people who stutter.

While welcomed by many people who stutter, this change in perspective does not come without consequences for speech-language pathologists (SLPs). The purpose of this 10-hour continuing education workshop is to provide an updated, modern view of theory, assessment, and therapy practices for preschoolers, school-age children, teens, and adults who stutter. Detailed information will be provided about how to conduct assessments that account for multiple perspectives on stuttered speech (e.g., parents, teachers, clinicians, and, of course, the speaker who stutters), as well as the broader impact of stuttering on a speaker’s life. This information will be used to develop meaningful therapy goals that are focused on reducing adverse impact. At the conclusion of this 10-hour workshop, participants will be able to:

• Provide a comprehensive and current definition of stuttering that includes both speaker and listener perspectives and accounts for the full range of experiences faced by people who stutter across the lifespan
• Explain the value of viewing stuttering from a neurodiversity-affirming perspective for people who stutter, caregivers and other family members, and society as a whole
• Describe the key assessment components of a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation for preschoolers, school-age children, teens, and adults who stutter
• List factors that contribute to stutter-affirming therapy recommendations, goal-selection, and activity planning for individuals who stutter in various age groups