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