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From: Charlie Osborne
Date: 09 Oct 2007
Time: 16:56:53 -0500
Remote Name: 143.236.35.203
I’m not sure I have THE answer to your first question. When stop and consider how the range of our scope of practice has broadened over the past two decades, the challenge of providing adequate professional preparation becomes obvious. To me, helping students to learn about and understand fluency and fluency disorders (at least to a beginning level of practice) is my primary concern at Stevens Point. However, my colleagues have concerns regarding child and adult language, neurogenics, dysphagia, AAC, cleft palate, birth to three, autism, phonology, speech motor disorders, research, voice, instrumentation, counseling, etc., etc., etc. I suspect, but cannot say for sure, that there are university programs where there isn’t a professor who specializes in fluency and fluency disorders. It is possible that in a situation such as that, where there is no one to advocate for fluency, that the area may not receive the attention you and I feel it deserves. I don not have a remedy for this situation. Perhaps other participants in this conference have suggestions or ideas. One response to the current situation you refer to is the abundance of continuing education opportunities in fluency and fluency disorders. The Stuttering Foundation of America sponsors regular summer workshops and has an amazing amount of CE materials available for SLPs who are interested (and at a fair price) on their website. DIV 4 offers CE opportunities in the form of ASHA pre-convention workshops & short courses, the annual Leadership Conference, and will soon offer CEs for Perspectives. ASHA also has CE products related to fluency that are available. The International Fluency Association’s Journal of Fluency Disorders is another available resource for CEs. I know that there are other educational opportunities available that I have not included here, but my point is, that efforts have been and are being made to provide the interested professional with learning opportunities. Thank you for your excellent questions!