EST in progress - The multidisciplinary survey

One of the working packages for the EST project addresses the development of national guidelines for stuttering treatment for kindergarten children. In order to do so, we first wanted to know the current status quo in Norway. Children at the age of 1 to 5.6 years usually attend kindergarten in Norway. Hence, kindergarten teachers are one of the professions that are very close to children on an every day base as earlier described by Hilde Hofslundengen’s blog post. In addition, health care nurses see all children at certain ages and are trained to observe typical development and to initiate follow ups if needed, as described in a blog post by Elisabeth Holm Hansen.

Illustration from Pexel

Speech-language pathologists are usually first involved after concerns have been raised, either by their parents or by those working in the profession, that that they may have a difficulty/disorder. So far so god. However, we are curious to explore what those three different professions (kindergarten teachers, health care nurses and speech-language pathologists) actually do when they meet a child that may stutter or are contacted by worried parents and caregivers.  Since there are no common guidelines today, that processionals have different educational backgrounds and that there are geographical differences in service offers in Norway, we expect a variation in practice and experience across the involved professions.

Therefore, we have prepared a multidisciplinary survey covering questions as for example, Have you met any children that stutter?, What do you do when a parent is concerned about their child’s possible stutter? and Does your workplace have any strategies or guidelines for addressing stuttering questions?

We prepared three different surveys, one for each profession - kindergarten teachers, health care nurses and speech-language pathologists. All surveys include a number of common questions across professions as well as some profession specific questions.

The surveys were sent out in first part of November. Right now, we are both exited over every new answer we receive  (THANK YOU!) and still a bit nervous if we reach the threshold for total numbers needed to have a representative sample to.

Therefore, if you have received an invitation to answer the survey in any of the professional groups, please take the time to answer. Even though you may never have met a child that stutters in your profession, that is very important information for us about the Norwegian context. Hence, we encourage everybody to answer the survey so that we can prepare the most descriptive picture for Norway and the current situation for kindergarten children that stutter.

Illustration from Pexel

Can my stutter be cured? BBC Crowd Science

In the end of September, a stuttering treatment course in the McGuire-program was arranged in Oslo. The journalist Gareth Barlow and producer Louisa Field from the BBC travelled to Oslo to make a pod cast about this and I was one of the lucky ones that was interviewed.

This was my third time being interviewed on radio, the first time in English on a world broadcasting service. The stress level did indeed reach the ceiling! However, before I met with Gareth and Louisa I was well prepared by the rest of the EST-team, by Ane Hestmann Melle in Statped and by Lise Paulsrud Mjørlund, a senior communication advisor at the University of Oslo. That was a huge help! Additionally, Louisa and Gareth was luckily very friendly, calm and helpful.

Now, one and a half month after, the pod cast is out and Louisa and Gareth has done a wonderful job! The have managed to make a podcast filled with information about stuttering and at the same time highlighting the individual experiences of people who stutter. If you want to gain insight into the impact of stuttering, learn about the McGuire program or stuttering in general I would really recommend you to listen to this podcast! Neuroscientist Soo-Eun Chang spoke brilliantly about the neurological basis of stuttering and Hilda Sønsterud offered her insightful thoughts on the McGuire program. I was also very impressed by everyone that offered their thoughts and experiences with stuttering.

Click here if you want to listen to the program

Stuttering awareness day: Melbourne Edition!

Rich Stephens, a person who stutters, is the President of SAY: Australia, the first international arm of SAY: The Stuttering Association For The Young founded in America/NYC in 2001 by Taro Alexander. Rich and Vice-President Dr. Elaina Kefalianos launched SAY: Australia in Melbourne in June 2019. For International Stuttering Awareness Day (ISAD) 2019, Rich and Elaina truly brought Australia’s attention to stuttering.

Rich says “22nd October is always an important time of year for the global stuttering community. For one day of the year a ‘bright light of awareness’ is shone on stuttering. ISAD helps to educate the world about stuttering, helps to correct many misconceptions about stuttering and also lets people who stutter know that they are not alone.

During previous ISAD’s many stuttering organisations and support groups spread stuttering awareness by holding conferences, educational seminars, and social gatherings. Rich says “I had also read about the odd city showing their support for ISAD by lighting-up one or two landmarks in the international colour of stuttering (sae-green) for the evening. And that idea planted a seed in my head. I did not just want to light one or two landmarks in Melbourne……I wanted to reach every Australian, those who stutter and those who don’t, by lighting-up Australia!”

Bolte brigde

Rich began contacting landmarks in Melbourne and in other cities across Australia, such as Sydney, Perth, Queensland, Adelaide, and Darwin. Rich says, “I remember sending the first email to one of the most famous sports stadiums in Australia, the MCG, asking if they could support ISAD 2019 by lighting-up sea-green. I thought 100% they would say no! But when they responded with a resounding yes, I had the confidence to reach out to landmarks across Australia……and I kept on receiving yes’s! It was unbelievable! We had Sports stadiums, town halls, bridges, hotels, casinos, museums, etc. across all the major Australian cities! And all the while my main thought was how inspiring the night was going to be for so many people who stutter knowing that there country supports them. See the amazing pictures of buildings lit up in sea-green below the text.

On the evening of ISAD 2019, Rich showcased the Australian premiere of ‘My Beautiful Stutter’, an award-winning documentary by Ryan Gielen, which follows 5 young people who stutter from different cities across America and their life-changing involvement in SAY’s creative programs and Camp SAY. After the documentary, Rich and Elaina led the audience, involving two young people involved in SAY: Australia programs, on a tour of the lit-up Melbourne landmarks. Rich says. “Melbourne looked such a beautiful sea-green! The premiere was a huge success! The audience were already feeling warm in their hearts and inspired to spread awareness of stuttering after the movie, but seeing the city lit-up was inspiring to a whole new level! Australia, particularly Melbourne, really did do the stuttering community, here and across the world, proud on ISAD 2019! For ISAD 2020, we’ll try and double the number of landmarks so we can spread awareness of stuttering even further!

My Beautiful Stutter

Telstra tower

Rod Laver arena

Aami park

Melbourne skyline