About the presenter: M.S. in speech-language pathology and M.S. in counseling, is an ASHA Fellow and professor of Communication Disorders at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She is the webmaster for the Stuttering Home Page as well as the coordinator of this online conference. She holds Specialty Recognition in Stuttering and is the recipient of the ASHF DiCarlo Award for Outstanding Clinical Achievement, the 2003 Distinguished Contributor Award from the International Fluency Association. a 2007 Outstanding Contribution Award from the International Stuttering Association, the 2008 ASHA Distinguished Contributor Award, and in 2009 named to the National Stuttering Association's Hall of Fame.

You can post Questions/comments about the following paper to the author before May 4, 2010.

Internet Cluttering Resources

by Judith Kuster
from Minnesota, USA

A short column that I wrote "Cluttering: The Other Fluency Disorder, appeared in The ASHA Leader, March 2009. The column, which is also online (http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster4/part86.html) featured several internet resources about "cluttering," and began

Typing "clutterer" into a standard search engine quickly leads to resources about hoarding and how to organize/declutter your life. After taking the quizzes (www.clutterless.org/TOC/Who/q_a.htm) and (www.clutterersanonymous.net/20questions.html) and determining that I am a clutterer, I am considering joining "clutterers anonymous." (www.clutterersanonymous.net).

But to a speech-language pathologist, a "clutterer" is a person who has a unique, relatively unknown fluency disorder. For many years, the classic book by Deso Weiss, (1964) Cluttering, Prentice Hall, was the most widely referred to resource on cluttering. St. Louis et. al (2003) state that "most seasoned clinicians have managed a few clients with the disorder. Many remember these clients not by how well they responded to treatment but by how puzzling it was to know what to do with them and how challenging they were to treat." (St. Louis, K.O., Raphael, L.J., Myers, F.L., and Bakker, K. 2003, Nov. 18. Cluttering Updated. The ASHA Leader, pp. 4-5, 20-22 (www.asha.org/about/publications/leader-online/archives/2003/q4/f031118a.htm).

Several excellent online resources about cluttering are highlighted and linked in that article. Some have been included in this online conference in whole or in part. However, there are additional online resources those interested in cluttering should know about. This presentation will include the resources mentioned in the Leader article that are still online, updating several of the links which have changed and add new resources in an attempt to integrate everything into a single Internet document or site which can be referenced as up-to-date cluttering resources on the Internet as of the time this article was written. The papers and information in this first online conference about cluttering (It's About Time: To Recognize Cluttering - http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/ica1/icacon1.html ) are listed at the end of this article. As cluttering becomes more recognized, researched, and recorded, more Internet resources will need to be added to this list which will be hot-linked and become part of the Stuttering Home Page (http://www.stutteringhomepage.com). The reader is invited to suggest additional resources in the comments/questions attached to this presentation

As of this writing, there currently a few information-rich internet sites about cluttering:

The International Cluttering Association Website

The ICA website (http://associations.missouristate.edu/ICA) is a growing repository of information and materials about cluttering, some of which have been generously integrated into this online conference where threaded discussions allow opportunity for comments and questions of the authors. Several members of the ICA have also provided additional papers for conference on cluttering. Search and continue to watch the ICA site for additional updates and valuable information.

American Speech-Language and Hearing Association Resources

Kuster's Website and past online conference papers related to cluttering has several materials and links, including:

The British Stammering Association's page on Information about cluttering (http://www.stammering.org/cluttering.html) includes among other things

Support opportunities for Cluttering

Additional on-line resources provide helpful/interesting information on cluttering

A few audio/video online resources in addition to those mentioned above or included as part of this conference For additional scholory research on cluttering, one may use access to peer-reviewed journals that are available online. Typically the article abstracts are freely available, however, you often must pay for a single copy of the article or be a subscriber to the journal to have full-text access. Below are some places to look for articles on cluttering. (Although you will often get articles about hoarding in some of the journals listed, if you are searching for titles, use the keyword "clutter" since the title may contain clutterer, clutters, cluttering, etc. and you might miss articles if you use the longer term).

And finally, listed below is all the information on this, The First International Conference on Cluttering - It's About Time: To Recognize Cluttering (http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/ica1/icacon1.html) The conference, open from April 14-May 5, 2010, featured presenters from Bulgaria, Canada, England, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, and the United States. It included presentations from professors, researchers, clinicians, and people who experience cluttering on a personal level. Included in the conference:

  • Office Hours - The Professional Is In where a group of 20 professionals interested in cluttering responded to a variety of questions.

  • Learning About Cluttering, with presentation from
  • Support Group Opportunities for Clients
  • Research about Cluttering
  • Spreading the Word

    You can post Questions/comments about the above paper to the author before May 4, 2010.

    SUBMITTED: April 13, 2010
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