Keynote: Bill Wade - Guys From Harvard Don't Stutter. . . and Other Myths

Bill Wade is a Partner at Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm. He advises Fortune 500 corporations and leading non-profits on matters of strategy, growth and performance improvement. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he graduated with high distinction as a Baker Scholar and Siebel Scholar. He also received bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting from Brigham Young University, graduating summa cum laude. Bill resides in Southlake, Texas, with his wife Katy and two sons. Among other things he's now proud of, Bill is a life-long stutterer. After years of struggling with his speech, Bill discovered several lessons that changed his life. He shares stories and insights about this transformational change. . . and renews appreciation for the truth that stuttering should not (and does not!) hold one back. (60 minutes)

Master Class Series: Lisa Scott - Application of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Techniques to Stuttering Intervention

Dr. Lisa Scott directs the L.L. Schendel Speech and Hearing Clinic, teaches courses in stuttering and counseling, and maintains an active clinical practice. She is the Vice President for Education for the Stuttering Foundation and a former coordinator for the ASHA Special Interest Group 10: Issues in Higher Education. She has made numerous presentation at district, state, and national meetings, and co-authored several publications in the area of fluency disorders. Scott's 3-hour "master class" on Cognitive-Behavioral therapy focuses on changing thoughts as a means to changing behavior. The workshop outlines the cognitive model of the interaction between thoughts, feelings, and behavior, then identifies helpful vs. unhelpful thoughts and their role in behavior change. Concrete strategies for changing unhelpful thoughts are presented.

Master Class Series: Heather Grossman, "Stuttering Desensitization: Rationale and Practical Applications

Dr. Heather Grossman is a Board Recognized Fluency Specialist and Mentor. She has worked with children and adults who stutter and their families for over 20 years She is currently the Clinic Director at the American Institute for Stuttering in New York City. She is an enthusiastic supporter of self-help. Her research includes exploring parameters of stuttering modification including voluntary stuttering. This workshop explored the concept of desensitization in stuttering therapy. A brief review of the literature provides a framework for understudying the importance of desensitization. Practical, evidence-based strategies are presented that are useful to help children, teens and adults who stutter work toward desensitization including self-disclosure, and voluntary stuttering.

Master Class Series: Nancy Ribbler - When a Student Stutters: Meeting Challenges in the School Setting

Nancy Ribbler, M.A., CCC-SLP, BRS-FD has worked in speech pathology and fluency disorders for over twenty-five years. She is a full-time school-based SLP in Broward County School District in South Florida. She consults as a fluency specialist in Broward County and developed the On-Line Fluency Assessment Course in Broward County School District. Nancy served on the ASHA Steering Committee for Fluency Disorders and was the Liaison for the Schools Task Force on Fluency. This presentation is focused on addressing eligibility, scheduling, and documentation challenges with school-age children who stutter.

Master Class Series: David Luterman - Sharpening Your Counseling Skills

NOTE: this is a 80 minutes DVD version, excepted from a 3-hour presentation

Dr. Luterman has dedicated his career to developing a greater understanding of the psychological effects and emotions associated with communication disorders, encouraging professionals to incorporate counseling strategies in their clinical interactions. He presents a model of counseling which allows for content and affect exchange with individuals and families. He has lectured and written extensively on this subject throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad and is an ASHA Fellow. The presentation described (and demonstrated) a listening/valuing model of counseling. Counselor responses were demonstrated. The DVD includes debriefing of listening exercises.

Accept the Stuttering, Not the Struggling - Vivian Sisskin (with several participants from her therapy program)

Vivian Sisskin is an instructor at the University of Maryland and an ASHA Board Recognized Specialist in Fluency Disorders. She served as Coordinator of ASHA's Special Interest Division on Fluency Disorders and is on the Board of Directors of the NSA. She is the co-leader of the Northern Virginia TWiST Chapter. The workshop explains how living with stuttering does NOT necessarily mean living with physical struggling which comes from maladaptive behaviors that interfere with forward moving speech. The psychological struggle results from efforts to conceal these behaviors, as well as one's identity as a person who stutters. The resulting "mental gymnastics" can be exhausting! Panel members, at varying points along their journey share strategies from Avoidance Reduction therapy including the actions they are taking and the choices they are making to shed struggle and achieve comfortable, spontaneous, forward-moving speech. (90 minutes)

Covert Stuttering Exposed! - Cathy Olish, Kristin Pelczarski, Jennifer, and Anthony

Kristin Pelczarski is an Assistant Professor at Bloomsburg University, teaching courses in stuttering, child language, and phonology. Her research investigates phonological encoding and other underlying linguistic mechanisms that influence stuttering. Dr. Pelczarski has also worked with children who stutter and their families for many years at Children's Hospital of Pittsburg. This popular workshop organized annually by Cathy Olish features Pelczarski explaining covert stuttering (also called hidden or interiorized stuttering) followed by a panel of three covert stutterers (Cathy, Jennifer, and Anthony) sharing how this greatly misunderstood stuttering phenomena affects their lives. (65 minutes)

Keynote: Neal Jeffrey

Former All-American quarterback at Baylor University and NFL quarterback for the San Diego Chargers, is one of the most effective speakers in America. He travels the country speaking to churches, men's groups, sports events, corporate conventions, conferences and training seminars. Neal is recognized as a dynamic communicator and gifted entertainer who inspires audiences to go "higher, swifter and stronger" in the critical areas of life! (36 minutes)

Adapted from the NSA program book: David Seidler, award winning screenwriter for the King's Speech. A Londoner by birth, Seidler developed a profound childhood stutter. As a result, George VI, the stammering King became a boyhood hero, role model, and inspiration for "The King's Speech." His stage version of "The King's Speech" will open in London during 2011.

Commencing with writing dubbing scripts for "Godzilla The Monster" movies, and taking time out to work as Political Advisor to the Prime Minister of Fiji, Seidler has sustained an extensive career with twenty credits to his name including: "Tucker, The Man and His Dream" starring Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen, and Martin Landau; "Malice in Wonderland," Elizabeth Taylor's return role after a long hiatus, and projects developed for Bruce Willis, Jane Fonda, and Kirk and Michael Douglas.

Nominated for Writing Achievement by the Writers' Guild of America three times; winning for "Onassis, The Richest Man in the world" with Raul Julia, Anthony Quinn and Jane Seymour, Nominated for "My Father, My Son" with Keith Carradine and Karl Malden, and "By Dawn's Early Light" with Richard Crenna. He has also written three animated features, including "Quest for Camelot" and has lectured at universities in Milan, Rome, and the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.

David is the doting, excessively proud father of Maya and Marc, an avid fly fisherman, and hopes he can continue to be of service to the stuttering community which he is proudly part of. (65 minutes)

"Sometimes I stutter and sometimes I don't." The variability of stuttering leads to efforts toward fluency, which in turn leads to more stuttering. The burden of concealment involves enormous mental energy to arrange, avoid, or alter communication to maintain "false" fluency. The result is struggle, not only in speech, but in thinking and decision-making. This 15 member panel will demonstrate and discuss various steps in Avoidance Reduction Therapy as they unravel the struggle and bust the shame, teaching about the complex process of self-acceptance and its relationship to comfortable, spontaneous, struggle-free speech. (84 minutes)

This panel provides a description of covert (or hidden, interiorized) stuttering, a greatly misunderstood stuttering phenomenon and three individuals who share the unique characteristics of their covert stuttering. (53 minutes)

Based largely on a 2005 article by Peter Reitzes, this workshop explore ways that voluntary stuttering can help the speaker desensitize to stuttering - stuttering in an easy, forward moving manner, demonstrating to others that stuttering is not shameful, maintaining appropriate eye contact in conversation, and reducing moments of stuttering. (35 minutes)

Participants in this workshop experienced an enjoyable "group experience" with the following aspects: a light-hearted warm-up activity, individual goal setting and evaluation, a "gut level" (as opposed to merely "intellectual") experiential activity followed by summarizing/sharing/digesting ideas with others (stutterers and visitors focusing on a non-stuttering problem), and theme-based "lessons." Handout is available. (50 minutes)

The findings of the NSA's 2009 survey and the recent NSA-Friends survey of parents and teens report new insight on the social impact of stuttering and the effectiveness of different approaches to stuttering treatment from consumer-based surveys of people who stutter. (40 minutes)

Information about the speaker from the NSA conference program:

DVD: Covert Stuttering Exposed

A single, nearly 2-hour DVD of panels on covert stuttering from the 2004 and 2009 NSA Conventions.

In 2004, then Senator Biden agreed to be a keynote speaker at the NSA annual convention. He was scheduled for about 15 minutes but stayed for nearly two hours, addressing the convention and then responding to many questions from the audience. He talked freely about his struggles with stuttering while he was growing up and entertained the audience with many interesting stories. The DVD contains the entire address and question period.