Communication Disorders and Sciences

Many speech-language pathologists have expressed doubts about their ability to help school-age children who stutter. Questions about eligibility and dismissal criteria, overall treatment goals and IEPs, techniques for improving speech fluency, ways to improve children’s communication attitudes, strategies for working with parents and teachers, how to minimize teasing and bullying, and whether children can benefit from fluency devices or medications are common. The purpose of this workshop is to help clinicians find real-world, practical answers to these and many other questions. Specific exercises and strategies will be discussed in detail, and participants will have the opportunity to explore a variety of different ways to help children who stutter overcome the difficulties associated with their stuttering. Participants will come away from the workshop feeling more confident in their own abilities for helping children who stutter and better able to respond to the challenges of stuttering therapy in schools and other settings.

Dr. Yaruss is Associate Professor and Director of the Master’s Degree Program in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh, Associate Director of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and Co-Director of the Stuttering Center of Western Pennsylvania. In addition to conducting research on the development of stuttering in young children, Dr. Yaruss has extensive experience working with children and adults who stutter in a wide variety of clinical settings. He has served on the board of directors of the National Stuttering Association and on the Steering Committee of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s Special Interest Division for Fluency Disorders. Dr. Yaruss frequently presents continuing education workshops to help speech-language pathologists feel more confident in their ability to help preschool and school-age children who stutter. He is co-author of the Source for Stuttering: Ages 7-18, published by LinguiSystems and the Overall Assessment of the Speaker’s Assessment of Stuttering (OASES), published by Pearson Assessments.

Participants will earn 6 contact hours or 0.6 ASHA CEUs

A Workshop Brochure with more information will be mailed out February 2010