empowerment

Talking, typing, and the social model of disability

When I was in primary school, I had a teacher who was over-enthusiastic about the virtues of touch-typing. Over the years, he slowly collected disused desktop computers, building up his collection until there was one for every student in his class. They lined the perimeter of the classroom, balanced on assorted desks and tables. He … read more…

The Value in Connecting with Other People who Stutter

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to write a guest blog post for Redefining Stammering. I am an assistant professor and researcher at Western Michigan University in the United States. I also work with people who stutter in my day-to-day life as a supervisor for budding speech therapists and as a co-leader for a … read more…

Intersectionality of gender and stuttering

Intersectionality means a lot of things to me. It allows me to see the complexity of myself, recognizing that my experiences do not occur within a vacuum of one identity. I can recognize that the things that I experience in society, the feelings and thoughts that I have, and ways that I interact with the … read more…

Intersectionality: What intersectionality means and why it’s important for stuttering

People who stutter all share common experiences. At some point, all of us who stutter have felt the knot in our stomachs when someone says introduce yourself to the group, or we feel our hearts race at the thought of using the telephone. When we were in school and had to read out loud, we … read more…

Stammering Pride & Prejudice Reviewed

Wanting some Christmas shopping inspiration? We thought we’d gather together a few early reflections on Stammering Pride and Prejudice to give people a taste for the book, and hopefully encourage one or two to buy it for themselves or a loved one this Christmas. In the UK and rest of Europe, the book is available … read more…

We need to talk about therapy for children who stammer: a new approach

In the previous blog post, ‘We need to talk about therapy for children who stammer’ (March, 2019) we argued against traditional, medical model practices which perceive stammering as un-natural or disordered, and focus on eradicating or diminishing stammering. We argued for a new, consistent approach to support children who stammer in their early years; one … read more…

The eloquence of stuttering: Summary of an odyssey

At first sight, eloquence and stuttering are a mismatch: Eloquence is the art of public speaking; stuttering is typically seen as a pathology that impedes people from speaking. As fluency is deemed the main component of a speech, everything that goes against it is considered a hindrance to the art of being eloquent.  However, what … read more…

In the Face of Jargon

In Patrick Campbell’s previous blog, he talks about the “common language we hear in and around speech and language therapy” and the “language of childhood therapy.” As the parent of a now-23-year-old who stutters, I never questioned what a therapist meant when they talked of “speech therapy.” This is a topic now on my mind … read more…

We need to talk about therapy for children who stammer

cut out kids

Childhood stammering therapy has come under less scrutiny than adult stammering therapy from a social model perspective. In this blog, we want to look at how criticisms of the medical model, and the rise of the social model and neurodiversity, may challenge some clinical practices for childhood stammering therapy.

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