Stuttering awareness day 2018

“People who stutter have the unique ability to teach the world the greatest lesson of all… to simply listen” – unknown

 

Did you know that October 22nd is International Stuttering Awareness day? International Stuttering Awareness day is an opportunity to educate people in the community about stuttering and how it can affect people’s lives. The EST-project team would like to use this day to bust some myths about stuttering. Here we go!

“People who stutter aren’t as smart as people who don’t stutter”

WRONG! – Research has shown that people who stutter are just as intelligent as everyone else!

 

“People who stutter do so because they were tickled too much as children or because their mother was scared during pregnancy”

WRONG! – The exact cause of stuttering is still not known but tickling and fearful expectant mothers are definitely not associated with the cause.

 

“It is helpful to finish sentences for people who stutter so they do not need to keep talking when they are stuttering”

WRONG! – While everyone is different, most people who stutter prefer to speak for themselves (just like everyone else!) and find it frustrating when people interrupt them and finish their sentences for them. So to be a good communication partner, maintain eye contact, give the person you are speaking to as much time as they need to say what they want to say and let them speak for themselves.   

And here are some facts about stuttering. Did you know that:

1. Childhood stuttering is really common! More than 1 in every 10 children stutter during the preschool years.
2. Stuttering affects more boys than girls.
3. Stuttering looks and sounds different in each person. People who stutter can repeat  (sounds, parts of words or whole words), prolong sounds or ‘block’ which is when no sound comes out. Stutters can also be accompanied by secondary, physical behaviors like facial tension, excessive blinking or body movements.
4. The majority of children will grow out of stuttering naturally however we still aren’t able to predict who these children will be which is why early intervention is essential for all children who stutter!

If you think that your child might be stuttering, contact your local SLP to get help. Effective treatments have been developed for preschool age children, school age children and adolescents. Effective treatments are also available for adults who stutter. If you are an adult who stutters, there is great Norwegian interest group called NIFS that you may like to get in contact with http://stamming.no/ Take care and always remember to be a good listener!

How to mark the International Stuttering Awareness Day?

22nd of October is the International Stuttering Awareness Day. The theme this year is "Speak your mind". As pointed to by Imhof from the International Stuttering Association, being able to effectively communicate involves many variables. It involves the confidence, the commitment and the determination to say what you want and connect with others. Said in other words, speaking your mind.

The main aim of the International Stuttering Awareness Day is to enhance peoples' awareness and knowledge about stuttering. This can be done in different ways and we encourage everyone to mark this day. The EST-team will mark the International Stuttering Awareness Day by: 

1. writing about stuttering in media
2. writing  about stuttering on this blog
3. talking about stuttering and the awareness day during lunch and other occasions during the day.
4. applying the sea green ribbon to our profile picture on Facebook. Use this link: https://twibbon.com/support/stammering-awareness-day-25. We were too late this year, but next year we are definitely wearing these wristbands on the 22nd of October (and possibly the whole month as well): https://www.stammering.org/get-involved/help-raise-awareness-and-campaign/stammering-awareness-wristbands

See these links if you want to read more about the International Stuttering Awareness Day: 

http://isad.isastutter.org

https://www.stammering.org/get-involved/help-us-raise-awareness/international-stammering-awareness-day-22nd-october

https://www.stutteringhelp.org/content/international-stuttering-awareness-day

Also, you should check out the ISAD online conferences. The conference runs each year from the 1st to the 22nd of October and is completely free. At the online conference you can read interesting papers, watch presentations and "ask a clinician". Use this link: http://isad.isastutter.org

We hope that you all will have a wonderful 22nd of October! 

Great turn out at evening seminar

On Tuesday the 16th of October, the EST-project arranged a evening seminar about stuttering in young children. The two team members, Elaina Kefalianos and Linn Stokke Guttormsen presented their research. Elaina focused on the results from the ELVS study concerning recovery and comorbidity, while Linn presented her PhD thesis.

The audience was following the presentations closely and asked many interesting questions. The EST-group was glad to see that so many people had the opportunity to come that evening, and we were also very inspired by seeing so many people being engaged in stuttering. The seminar was also a great opportunity for EST-members to get in contact with SLPs from different areas in Norway. Since close collaboration with SLPs in Norway is crucial for the project, this was very valuable.

A huge thanks to everyone who showed up and made this seminar a success!

Remember our evening seminar - October 16th - on stuttering in preschoolers!

We hope to see many of you at our  evening seminar about stuttering in preschool children at the Department for Special Needs Education. For more information, see here.

The seminar is free of charge and open for everybody.
Welcome!

Introducing our Post Doctor - Linn Stokke Guttormsen

It is with great excitement that we finally can announce to everybody that Dr. Linn Stokke Guttormsen has been appointed as the successful post doc for the EST-project!

Linn graduated as a speech language therapist (SLT) at the University of Oslo in 2010. After her graduation she has worked as a special needs teacher, pedagogical-psychological counselor/advisor and an SLT for school-aged children. During her work as a SLT she realized that stuttering was without a doubt the most interesting disorder to be immersed in, and she therefore applied for a PhD position within the field of fluency disorders.

 In her PhD, Linn has focused on how children are affected by stuttering. Together with Kefalianos and Næss, she summarized the literature on children’s self-report of communication attitudes. They found that children who stutter have more negative attitudes towards their speech than children who do not stutter and that the differences between attitudes increased with age.

Linn views her current position as a post doc in the EST-project as an exciting new step. Getting the opportunity to investigate and implement best practice for young children who stutter motivates her. Additionally, she mentions that she is very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of such a great team.

 

We warmly welcome you on board, Linn!
  

Directions from research in treatment for childhood stuttering - an open seminar

Norwegian speech language therapists have enjoyed a visit from several international clinicians and researchers within the stuttering field, due to Linn Stokke Guttormsen publicly defending her PhD-dissertation. The EST-project group took the opportunity to invite Dr. Elaina Kefalianos, who is also a member of the EST-project group, and Dr. Courtney Bird to present some of their impressive work in an open seminar on Thursday the 27^th of September. They are both experienced clinicians and researchers and have been mentioned in previous posts here on the blog.  

Dr. Elaina Kefalianos and Dr. Courtney Byrd

Firstly, Elaina gave her presentation with the title: Understanding developmental stuttering: Onset to recovery. She took us through some of the findings from the very big pool of data that was collected during the Early Language in Victoria study (ELVS). The study is a prospective, longitudinal study that followed a large community cohort of children from the age of 8-10 months. 11.2 percent of the children were identified as stuttering before the age of 4. Far fewer children than expected, only 6 percent, were identified as recovered from stuttering within the first year after onset. By the age of 7 this number had risen to 67 percent. Few of the children had sought treatment during this time, which is indicative of a large proportion of the children recovering naturally. You can read more about the findings of the study here.

Internationally clinical guidelines state recently that childhood stuttering should always be treated immediately, due to the potential negative impact stuttering might have on an individual child’s social and emotional development. One of Elaina’s most important points was that given that resources are limited, we need to know more about predictors of recovery and persistence in childhood stuttering. In this way we may be better able to prioritize which children should receive which type of treatment and know more about how close to the onset of stuttering it should be offered.

Later on, it was Dr. Byrd’s turn to present some of the work that is being conducted at the Michael and Tami Lang Stuttering Institute at the University of Texas, Austin. Her presentation was titled Navigating the Stereotype Threat of Stuttering. She stated that persons who stutter often are portrayed as nervous and anxious in the public media, even though we know that they as a group do not differ from persons without stuttering. She hypothesized that the origin of this stereotype is partly due to the listeners’ experience when communicating with someone who stutters.

Dr. Byrd’s team has conducted studies on the use of voluntary stuttering and self-disclosure, which are both commonly used strategies in stuttering therapy, but have not had scientific evidence to support them. What they have found is that, if used correctly, voluntary stuttering is regarded by persons who stutters as a helpful strategy. In the case of disclosing that you are a person who stutters, listeners will rate the stuttering as less interfering with communication if done in an assertive and non-apologetic manner. During their two-week intensive treatment program these strategies are taught to all clients, from as young as four years of age, as a way of helping them navigate the stereotype threat that all persons who stutter are faced with. Hence communicative excellence, and not perfectly fluent speech, is the main goal of treatment. If you are interested in seeing more about Courtney`s work, take a look at their web page here.   

Through their respective talks it became evident that both Elaina and Courtney are dedicated and passionate about finding out what actually works in stuttering therapy and how treatment can be made available for persons who stutter of all age groups. The presentations peaked our (already existing) interest in stuttering and fueled several conversations with colleagues over the following days. We are hoping that this is just the first to come of knowledge sharing to Norwegian speech and language therapists, as well as other groups interested in stuttering, through the international collaboration within the EST-project.

From guest writer Ane Hestman Melle for the EST team

Every now and then, the EST team invites guest writers to contribute to the blog. As part of this, todays blog post was written by Ane Hestmann Melle,  speech- language pathologist at Statped Sør-Øst. Attentive readers of the blog will remember Ane as one of our EST-project collaborators joining the writing retreat in Denmark.

Disputation - Linn Stokke Guttormsen

On Friday, 28th of September 2018, Master Linn Stokke Guttormsen from the Department of Special Needs Education defended her doctoral dissertation for the degree of PhD. The title of her PhD thesis is “A multimethod study of the impact of stuttering on children”. Linn was supervised by Professor Kari-Anne Bottegaard Næss and Professor II Charles Hulme, both affiliated at the Department of Special Needs Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo.

A Norwegian public defence for the degree of PhD is a very formal setting that is open to the public, with ceremonial factors as the Chair of the defence wearing the traditional robe of the faculty and with the original Latin closure. The audience usually comprises colleagues, researchers, family and friends, as well as students, user organizations and whoever might be interested. The disputation is a full day event, consisting of two main parts - a trial lecture (45 minutes) and the defence itself with the two opponents which can last from 2 to 4 hours. The Chair of the defence for Linn was Professor emerita Bente Eriksen Hagtvet from the Department of Special Needs Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo.

From left: Courtney Byrd, Barry Guitar, Linn S. Guttormsen, Vibeke Grøver, Bente Hagtvet

When the doctoral candidate submits a thesis, the Faculty appoints an adjudication committee. For Linn, the members of the committee were Professor Barry Guitar, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Vermont, USA (the first opponent),

Associate Professor Courtney Byrd, Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Texas at Austin, USA (the second opponent) and Professor Vibeke Grøver, Department of Education, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo, as the third member and the committee's coordinator.

The adjudication committee compiles a written decision with comments concerning if the dissertation is worth defending, based on the content of the thesis and the fulfillment of other mandatory elements for completing a doctoral degree from the Faculty of Education. If the answer is yes, there is approximately a six week time span between the candidate receiving the decision and the date of the public defence. It is also the duty of the committee to set the title for the trial lecture, which the candidate has a two week period to develop. Linns trial lecture covered the following topic: "Review the evidence for treatment of preschoolers who stutter. Include in the discussion the possible influence of children's communication attitudes and temperament."

Linn appeared calm and presented a well-structured lecture covering the areas of stuttering characteristic of preschoolers and a comparison of the direct and indirect treatment approaches published internationally. She included a systematic review addressing frequency of treatment studies within each of the evidence phases in research. Therefore, one of the take home messages concluded that evidence so far is rather limited due to the small number of studies and methodology challenges within them, thereby directing future research goals.

The committee was satisfied with the trail lecture and hence, the candidate proceeded to  defense the thesis itself. Linns thesis consists of 3 articles and an extended abstract, called kappe in Norwegian. You can find a summary of the PhD here: Summary

The first opponent, Barry Guitar, summarized the PhD thesis , contextualizing the content to the history iof the field and ongoing discussion in clinical and research experience. In his following discussion with Linn, he highlighted the importance of the reactivity of children to their stuttering which for some may occur from the very first hour after onset. Consequently, he asked challenging questions addressing both clinical and research aspects of evaluation and self-reports, as well as Linns personal treatment experience and general clinical implications. This was done within a warm, reflective conversational style that was also continued by the second opponent, Courtney Byrd. She addressed the responsibility for SPLs to demystify the term stuttering for our clients, as well as providing them with good general communication skills in addition to, for example, fluency approaches.

Both opponents included personal stories and showed a strong connection to the clinical field. In this way, the dissertation provided not only interesting discussion points for Linn, but also information for all members of the audience. The opponents challenged Linn in a positive and encouraging way, following up on her responses to further extensions. Linn on her side contributed through honest and reflected answers, showing her knowledge of the area and her respect for the opponents and the research field.

The public defence was concluded by the chair with the famous and traditional words: Disputatio peracta est!

Linn is hereby the first Norwegian SLP to achieve a doctoral degree in stuttering – and to our knowledge, may even be the first Norwegian PhD within stuttering - independent of their scientific field!  Congratulations!

We are very proud to welcome her as a post doc into the EST research group!

From the EST-team