Reflect: An app to visualise stammering

Thank you Christine Tournier for your interest in my recent work developing a stammering-affirming practice framework. You can listen here to our conversation for the Exploring Research for Clinical Practice podcast, in which I give an overview of the development of Reflect in collaboration with Stuttering Commons, an app that visualises stammering with the aim … read more…

Stammering as Teacher

Throughout his work, Dr. Chris Constantino explores different narratives of stuttering. Chris encourages us to think beyond those such as ‘Stuttering as Hardship’ and ‘Stuttering as Delight’, and to come up with our own narratives around stammering. My experiences with stammering pride, meditation and a smattering of Buddhist thinking have helped me form my stammering … read more…

Dysfluent Literature

Privileged to choose Dr Maria Stewart to discuss her work on the Stammering Collective and her readings of Emily Dickinson’s poetry for the Disorderly Voices podcast hosted by Patrick Campbell for Stuttering Commons. Maria has been a key influence in opening my eyes to the literary and cultural heritage people who stammer are born into. … read more…

Looking back, looking forward

Honored to be chosen by Conor Foran to take part in the Disorderly Voices podcast hosted by Patrick Campbell and Maria Stewart to discuss my chapter Looking Back, Looking Forward in the 2019 book Stammering Pride and Prejudice: Difference not Defect, co-edited together with Patrick Campbell and Christopher Constantino. You can listen to our conversation … read more…

Bridging worlds: Stutter-affirming therapy rooted in disability justice. Reimagining the clinical and the critical

As a speech-language therapist, a person who stutters, and a doctoral candidate researching stigma and representation, I often find myself navigating two seemingly distinct worlds: the clinical and the critical. The ‘Bridging Dysfluency Theory and Clinical Practice’ workshop series was the first training I encountered that deliberately built a bridge between these worlds – namely … read more…

The potential benefits of self-compassion for people who stammer: My experience and a chance to become involved in the research

How my personal experience inspired my research study To truly understand my excitement about this new project – and my deep commitment to researching the potential benefits of self-compassion for people who stammer – I need to share a little about how self-compassion changed my own life. Some of you may have read parts of … read more…

Learning from people who stammer: what should we be researching about intervention(s)?

I have worked as a speech and language therapist with children, young people, and adults who stammer for many years and I have loved it. Being invited to explore ideas with people considering potential change in their life is a huge privilege, and as the one person in the room without lived experience of either … read more…

Wouldn’t you rather talk like us? A UK art exhibition making stammering history

What would a conversation between two people who stutter look like? As I write I am putting the finishing touches to a collaborative piece of work that Conor Foran and I have been working on for our upcoming exhibition at City Lit in London. The exhibition is called ’Wouldn’t you rather talk like us?’ – … read more…

Dysfluency in Three Modes of Belonging

Stuttering pride is starting to mature. No longer a hushed whisper that might evaporate if spoken aloud, the social movement of stuttering pride has turned to root and flower. In this post I want to consider the growing stuttering community from the perspective of a gardener. Nietzsche, of all people, offers a starting point: “Woe … read more…

New places on the map – how ‘Stammering Pride and Prejudice’ changed my work as a therapist

I have been a speech and language therapist for 30 years now working with people who stammer of all ages. I like the idea that everything I learned about stuttering and its therapy resembles a map. When I  listened to Sam Simpson’s keynote talk at the ECSF Symposium in Antwerp in 2020, it felt that … read more…