Fluency disorders, such as stuttering and cluttering, are disorders of speech production that affect the flow of speech. These disorders disrupt the smoothness, rhythm and timing of speech and make communication challenging for people with fluency disorders. Fluency disorders can significantly affect a person’s communication efficiency, social interaction, academic and occupational performance, and psychosocial well-being.
Law, T., & Al-Khaledi, M. (2023). Developmental Stuttering for Unserved and Underserved Populations. In: P. Enderby & S. Levy (Ed.) Addressing Communication Disorders in Unserved and Underserved Populations, Chapter 12. https://www.jr-press.co.uk/product/the-unserved/
STUTTERING SUPPORT GROUPS AND USEFUL WEBSITES
Australian Stuttering Warriors
Australian Stuttering Research Centre
The Stuttering Association for the Young
Canadian Stuttering Association
SAY The Stuttering Association for the Youth, Canada
The Speech and Stuttering Institute
The Support Group for Stuttering in China
European Stuttering Specialisation Course
Hong Kong Stuttering Support Group
The Indian Stammering Association
Indonesian Stuttering Community
Pakistan Stammering Foundation
Philippine Stuttering Association
Singapore Institute of Technology
Taiwanese Stuttering Association
Stuttering and Cluttering Institute in Taiwan
Michael Palin Centre for Stammering
National Stuttering Association
Stuttering Foundation of America
More coming soon.
Thomas Law, PhD, is Assistant Professor and Chief of the Division of Speech Therapy, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr. Law graduated in Speech Pathology from the University of Sydney, Australia and holds a Masters in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a PhD from the Australian Stuttering Research Center at the University of Sydney. Thomas has worked in the field of fluency disorders for over 20 years. Thomas is a member of the Lidcombe Program Trainers Consortium and has provided training to speech-language pathologists in China, Singapore and Australia. Thomas’ research in fluency disorders focuses on the topography and linguistic factors associated with stuttering.
Michael Azios, Ph.D, CCC-SLP is an associate professor at the University of Louisiana Lafayette in the Department of Communicative Disorders. He is a person who stutters and and has over 20 years’ experience working with people who stutter and their families. His research interests include exploring the effectiveness of counseling practices with persons who stutter, resilience training, and promoting advocacy training within educational institutions.
Dr. Maria Faściszewska is an Associate Professor at the University of Gdansk, Poland, where she teaches undergraduate, masters and postgraduate students. She is a graduate of the European Clinical Specialisation in Fluency Disorders (2021), and has been a fellow of the Stuttering Foundation 2021 Online Summer Workshop and many intensive training programmes in Europe. She is an ambassador for Ben Furman’s Kids Skills method and a therapist in the TSR stream. She has her own practice, Port Communication. Maria’s research in fluency disorders focuses on the linguistic factors associated with stuttering. Maria has published one book, more than 20 scientific articles and has given many seminars for SLTs in Poland and abroad.
Yuki Hara is Professor of Speech Therapy Course, Department of Rehabilitation, School of Allied Health Sciences, Kitasato University in Japan. She has been working as a speech-language-hearing therapist at Kitasato University Hospital.Yuki has been working in the field of fluency disorders for over 30 years. Yuki is involved in the establishment of the Japanese Society for Stuttering and Fluency Disorders and one of the bord members. Yuki’s research fields are the epidemiology of stuttering and interventions for children who stutter.
Shu-Lan Yang, PhD, is a Professor of Special Education at National Pingtung University (NPTU) in Taiwan. Dr. Yang holds dual doctoral degrees in Speech Pathology and Counseling Psychology. At NPTU, she has served as the Head of the Department and the Director of the Special Education Center. As a prolific researcher and principal investigator, Dr. Yang has completed over 20 research projects focusing on disfluency disorders. Her contributions to the field include two published books on stuttering and communication disorders, the development of two stuttering assessment tools, over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, and more than 55 conference presentations.
Veronica Park, PhD, is a lecturer in the Discipline of Speech Language Pathology at the Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney. Veronica has been a speech pathologist since 2012 , and has been specialising in fluency disorders since the completion of her PhD from the Australian Stuttering Research Centre at the University of Sydney in 2018. Veronica’s research focuses on evidence-based treatment and predictors of recovery, and student learning experiences in stuttering management with emphasis on competency development.