Interrupting Ableism in Stuttering Therapy and Research: Practical Suggestions

Gerlach-Houck, Hope; Constantino, Christopher

doi:10.1044/2021_persp-21-00109

Cited by 18 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 108 publications

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“…Ableist acts are not always carried out by people who want to do harm; well-intentioned, caring people learn that fluent speech is preferred to stuttering because we live in a society that is not free of ableism. Stuttering-related ableism is a systemic social justice issue (Gerlach-Houck & Constantino, 2022). It would be inaccurate and oversimplified to label ableism as the "fault" of parents or speech therapists, who often care deeply and desperately want to help.…”

Section: Ableism Is Not a Matter Of Intentionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concealing Stuttering at School: “When You Can't Fix It…the Only Alternative Is to Hide It”

Gerlach-Houck

Kubart

Cage

2023

LSHSS

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore experiences with concealing stuttering in children and young people who stutter based on recollections from adults. In addition, we explored how school-based speech therapists can be helpful or unhelpful to children who are concealing stuttering from the perspective of adults who stutter. Method: Thirty adults who stutter, who previously or currently conceal stuttering, participated in semistructured interviews exploring their early experiences with hiding stuttering. Purposeful and random sampling was used to diversify experiences and opinions. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to develop themes and subthemes to describe participants' experiences. Results: All participants in the study reported beginning to conceal stuttering at 18 years of age or younger, with more than two thirds sharing that they began in elementary school. Participants reported that exposure to implicit and explicit ableist messaging about stuttering and traumatic social experiences at school contributed to their inclination to hide disfluencies. Many participants described concealment as a strategy for protecting themselves from stigma. Several participants condemned fluency shaping, calling it harmful and likening it to teaching concealment. Participants believed that speech therapists could be helpful by promoting safe and supportive school environments and by being responsive to the social and emotional challenges that can accompany speaking differently and navigating stigma at school. Conclusions: Some children who stutter may attempt to protect themselves from stigma by concealing their disfluencies, but doing so can feel isolating and confusing. Speech therapists can play an important role in making the school environment safer and more supportive for children who stutter.

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Section: Ableism Is Not a Matter Of Intentionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concealing Stuttering at School: “When You Can't Fix It…the Only Alternative Is to Hide It”

Gerlach-Houck

Kubart

Cage

2023

LSHSS

Self Cite

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“…Fostering acceptance involves reframing stuttering not as a flaw that needs repairing but as a respectable condition in its own right (Gerlach & Constantino, 2022;Watermeyer & Kathard, 2016). A parallel, complementary approach explores conditions that may reduce stuttering.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring feasibility and effectiveness of occasional whispering in adults who stutter: subjective and objective evaluations

Vorst¹,

Vugt²

2023

Preprint

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Purpose: Stuttering is a challenging condition characterized by disfluencies which prior work has found to be momentarily improved during whispering. The present study explores the clinical potential of whispering by asking whether the benefits of whispering remain stable with short-term use, extend to conversation tasks, and feasible in daily life.Method: Sixteen adult persons who stutter completed tests assessing the amount of stuttering for normal voiced speech and whispering during both conversation and reading aloud tasks. Participants then used whispered communication in their daily lives and reported their subjective experiences. After three weeks, effectiveness tests were repeated.Results: Stuttering severity was significantly less for whispered speech (vs. typical speech) during a conversation task (50% reduction) although this effect is smaller than for a reading task (85% reduction). This reduction remained present and comparable in magnitude after three weeks of approximately 5 to 10 minutes daily whispering. Participants subjectively indicated positive experiences with respect to the effects of whispering on fluency and reported whispering helped reduce stuttering-related anxiety. However, four participants (25%) reported negative voice side-effects (e.g., hoarseness, vocal-fold strain), associated with regular whispering.Conclusions: Occasional use of whispering can effectively reduce stuttering and related behaviors during both reading and conversational speech. This result paves the way for future technological applications that convert whispered speech into natural sounding speech in real-time.

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“…Therapeutic support offered to PWS can be a flexible combination of fostering greater acceptance of the condition and minimizing the symptoms (dysfluencies). Fostering acceptance involves reframing stuttering not as a flaw that needs repairing but as a condition deserving respect and consideration in its own right (Gerlach & Constantino, 2022;Watermeyer & Kathard, 2016). A parallel, complementary approach explores conditions that may reduce stuttering.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Feasibility and Effectiveness of Occasional Whispering in Adults who Stutter: Subjective and Objective Evaluations

Vorst¹,

Vugt²

2023

ACP

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Stuttering is a challenging condition characterized by disfluencies which prior work has found to be momentarily improved during whispering. The present study explores the clinical potential of whispering by examining whether the benefits of whispering remain stable with short-term use, extend to conversation tasks, and are feasible in daily life. Sixteen adult persons who stutter completed tests assessing the amount of stuttering for normal voiced speech and whispering during both conversation and reading-aloud tasks. Participants then used whispered communication in their daily lives and reported their subjective experiences. After three weeks, effectiveness tests were repeated. Stuttering severity was significantly lower for whispered speech (vs. typical speech) during a conversation task (50% reduction), although this effect was smaller than for the reading-aloud task (85% reduction). This reduction remained present and comparable in magnitude after three weeks of approximately 5 to 10 minutes of daily whispering. Participants subjectively indicated positive experiences with respect to the effects of whispering on fluency and reported that whispering helped reduce stuttering-related anxiety. However, four participants (25%) reported negative voice side effects (e.g., hoarseness, vocal-fold strain), associated with regular whispering. Occasional use of whispering can effectively reduce stuttering and related behaviors during both reading-aloud and conversational speech. This result paves the way for future technological applications that convert whispered speech into natural sounding speech in real-time.

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Interrupting Ableism in Stuttering Therapy and Research: Practical Suggestions

Cited by 18 publications

References 108 publications

Concealing Stuttering at School: “When You Can't Fix It…the Only Alternative Is to Hide It”

Concealing Stuttering at School: “When You Can't Fix It…the Only Alternative Is to Hide It”

Exploring feasibility and effectiveness of occasional whispering in adults who stutter: subjective and objective evaluations

Exploring Feasibility and Effectiveness of Occasional Whispering in Adults who Stutter: Subjective and Objective Evaluations

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