JWCSC Montreal day 3

Rodney Gabel and Michael Boyle discussed the effect of telling other people that you stutter. Disclosure has played a crucial role in stuttering therapy for at least the past 50 years. For example, it is central to the stuttering modification therapies of both Sheehan and Van Riper, and features strongly in user-led therapies such as the McGuire Programme. Listener reaction to disclosure is positive, especially when the intent is to inform rather than apologise.

Despite the advantages of disclosure, Gabel emphasised that concealing stuttering can be OK. Many who stutter have coping mechanisms in which they will seldom or never discuss stuttering, preferring to pass as fluent. For speakers who are comfortable in such roles, there can be little or no incentive to change strategy. Deliberately calling attention to very minor, or imperceptible, stuttering appears inappropriate to them. This is despite the possibility that their speaking styles contain covert stuttering behaviours (e.g. word substitutions, and so on). The changes required to either stutter more openly, or to undertake a therapy programme such as fluency shaping or stuttering modification, can be unappealing. Gabel suggested that if they are not seeking help, such speakers might be best left alone.

Boyle discussed interview data exploring the reasons stutterers might prefer to disclose. Advantages identified included pre-empting listener confusion, receiving support or accommodation, and replacing unsympathetic listeners with allies. Boyle identified four strategies around disclosure: concealing stuttering and blending in with fluent speakers; avoidance and denial of stuttering; aggression towards fluent speakers; and openness about stuttering.

Dillon Pruett presented data from DNA Biobank and 23andMe – another of the studies based around the data sets described on day 2. This time, the emphasis was on sex differences. Sex difference is an important topic because more girls than boys stop stuttering, leading to an approximately 4:1 ratio of more men than women stuttering in adulthood. When diagnoses co-occurring with stuttering are examined, men are found to have many more than women. These notably included sleep disorders, infection, and hypersensitivies such as eczema or asthma. For women, epilepsy, convulsions and fainting (syncope) were identified.

Jordi Fernandez and Ronan Miller were present throughout the conference promoting their BeneTalk app. This offers a variety of benefits to people who stutter, including speech rate tracking and social connectivity with other app users. They are assessing the effectiveness of the app, and in one of the final workshops showed preliminary data.

The day ended with a gala dinner containing some highly unexpected traditional dancing! At this point, total exhaustion was setting in. However, there are rumours the whole thing is going to happen again in three years time in New Zealand. Working out the travel itinerary already!