LIFE September 25, 2012

Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders  One of eight departments in the College of Health and Public Affairs  Accredited since 1986  Undergraduate Program: 611 full-time and 133 part-time students  Master’s Program: 199 students  Doctoral Program in Language and Literacy (with College of Education): 7 students  Largest Speech/Language Pathology program in the nation

College of Health and Public Affairs at UCF

Communication Disorders Clinic  Research Pavilion on Research Parkway (Suite 155)  Provide undergraduate and graduate students with an opportunity to observe and get hands-on experience in the assessment and treatment of people of all ages with speech, language and hearing disorders.  Specialty Clinics (among which)  Aphasia House  Atlantic Region FAAST Assistive Technology Demonstration Center  Fluency Clinic

Martine Vanryckeghem, Ph.D. Professor, University of Central Florida Guest Professor, University of Gent, Belgium Certified Speech-Language Pathologist Board Recognized Fluency Specialist Fellow, American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders College of Health and Public Affairs

Fluency Clinic

Fluency Disorders  Stuttering  Cluttering  Neurogenic Dysfluency  Psychogenic Dysfluency

Dysfluency can be a correlate of neurogenic disorders that are  Cortical, Sub-cortical or Non-cortical  Tourette syndrome  Cluttering  Stroke  Parkinson’s  Asperger syndrome  Dysarthria  Closed head injury  Tumor  Down syndrome  etc…

Dysfluency can be a correlate of psychogenic disorders  Hysteria  Social phobias  Social anxiety  Schizophrenia  Bi-polar disorder

People whose fluency is disordered have a multi-dimensional problem Multi-dimensional approach to assessment and treatment

Fluency Disorders  Differential diagnosis of people with fluency disorders requires assessment of speech- associated  affect  behavior  cognitive (attitude)  Differential treatment of people with fluency disorders

Multi-dimensionality  Assessment and Treatment involves:  Affective  Behavioral  Cognitive

Facts about Stuttering  Age of onset  Typically between age  Genetics  Gender-specific genetic predisposition  Brain functioning  Brain imaging suggests mixed laterality rather than left brain control of the speech mechanism

The Person who Stutters  Behavioral  Stuttering behaviors  Coping behaviors  Affective  Situations  Sounds/words  Cognitive  Negative attitude about speech and speech-associated ability

Can we “cure” stuttering?  Not at this time  However, we can reduce one’s  Stuttering behaviors  Coping behaviors  Anxiety of sounds/words/situations  Negative thinking

Generalization and Maintenance  Fluency treatment cannot be confined to the clinical setting  Generalization /carry-over to the ‘outside world’ is crucial to the success of treatment  Maintenance of therapy gains over time