SPA 885
Fluency Disorders
Spring Semester 1995
Instructor: Dr. E. Charles Healey
Office Hours: 9-11:00 & 3- 4:00 M-F; 1-2 TH
107H Barkley Memorial Center
472-5459
REQUIRED READINGS:
Peters, T. & Guitar, B. (1991). Stuttering: An integrated approach to
its nature and treatment. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins. (P & G on
course outline)
Various journal articles relevant to the topics covered in class.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
* Acquire knowledge regarding the nature of stuttering.
* Acquire knowledge and understanding of the diagnosis of
stuttering in preschool, school-age, and adult persons
who stutter.
* Provide information relevant to the differentiation of
normally nonfluent children and incipient stutterers.
* Review and discuss treatment programs for preschool and
school-age children who stutter.
* Review and discuss treatment approaches and philosophies
for adults who stutter.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
All students will be expected to complete all of the readings for this
course and contribute to class discussion. Readings are associated with
each section of the course and correspond to the material covered in the
lectures. As new information comes out of the literature, I will have
you read those articles that are relevant to the class discussion.
Copies of any article assigned for the class will be placed on reserve
in the Resource Room for you to copy. Every student is allowed to copy
an article for personal use.
There will be 3 exams during the semester. Tests will be short answer
in nature. More will be said about the tests several days before they
are given. The grading scale is as follows:
A = 90-100 B+ = 86-89 B = 80-85 C+ = 76-79
C = 70-75
Each test will count 25% of your final course grade. The remaining 25%
of your grade will be determined by the grade you receive on the
projects that you will prepare for this class.
Projects:
In addition to the three unit tests, each student will complete two
projects that will be graded . Each project will involve the clinical
application of information given in class as well as any information
that you gather from books or the literature. Journals containing
information about stuttering include but are limited to the following:
J. Fluency Disorders, LSHSS, JSHR, J. Communication Disorders, Folia
Phoniatrica, AJSLP, J. of Childhood Communication Disorders, and
Seminars in Speech-Language Pathology.
Project 1:
The first project will involve developing assessment procedures and
materials for a preschool, elementary school-age, and adolescent/adult
who stutters. We will discuss this information in class but I would
like for everyone to develop an assessment notebook (three ring type)
which contains information about the assessment for each of these age
groups. You can include any information you want but you will be graded
on the completeness of the materials and clarity of the steps to follow
in the assessment. This project will be worth 15 points and will be
graded in terms of quality and clarity of the information provided. The
intent of this project is to give you something useful for your future
clinical practice. Your notebooks for this project will be due March
31, 1995.
Project 2:
The second project will involve the development of at least 2 separate
evaluation or treatment materials that are based on information obtained
from the literature. For this project, I would like for each of you to
find at least two sources of information from periodicals or books that
contain clinical information about stuttering. The information that you
use should be less than 15 years old unless you can convince me that the
material published over 15 years ago is still relevant today. You are to
provide a copy of the reference material that you have used along with a
summary of the how this information will be used clinically. For example
if you find a chapter in a book on stuttering that relates to treating
children who stutter, you should copy the chapter and then write a short
summary of what the information contained that was clinically relevant
Your summary should be clinically useful and relevant to the diagnosis
or treatment of stuttering. You will be graded on this project according
to the following criteria:
1. Quality of material selected from the literature.
2. Usefulness and relevance of the material to the clinical management
of stuttering.
3. Quality of the reference source.
This project will be worth 15 points. The deadline for this project is
April 18, 1995.
The percentage grade earned for Project 1 and 2 will constitute the
remaining 25% of your grade for the course.
Course Outline
I. The Nature of Stuttering ( P & G, chapter 1)
A. An overview of the disorder
1. universality of the disorder
2. definition of stuttering and other fluency
disorders
3. terms associated with the problem
B. Review of "facts" about stuttering
C. Speech patterns under fluency-inducing conditions
D. Role of heredity in stuttering
E. An overview of major theories of stuttering
(P & G, chps.2 &3)
TEST 1
II. Characteristics of Children Who Stutter
A. Clinical and theoretical perspectives on early
childhood stuttering
B. Subgrouping young stutterers
C. Nonfluencies associated with preschool stutterers
and conversational partners
III. The Assessment and Diagnosis of Stuttering ( P & G, chapter 6)
A. Stuttering identification and measurement
B. Differentiating the young nonfluent speaker and the
incipient stutterer
C. Assessment methods and procedures in:
1. preschool stutterers
2. school-age stutterers
3. adult stutterers
D. Evaluation of attitudes and emotions associated
with stuttering
TEST 2
IV. The Treatment of stuttering (P & G chapters 5, 8, 10, 12)
A. Current controversies about stuttering treatment
B. Treatment methods for:
1. preschoolers who are nonfluent/stuttering
2. school-age stutterers
3. adult stutterers
C. The CAFET system for children and adults who stutter
D. Common problems associated with treatment and how to
deal with them effectively
E. The role of counseling in stuttering therapy
F. Learning from negative outcomes in therapy
G. Future trends in the treatment of stuttering