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This study investigated beliefs and perceptions parents have regarding their young child’s stammering and their views and experiences of therapy. It is known that parents are often anxious about their child’s stammering (e.g. Langevin, Packman and Onslow, 2010) and that it can have an impact on family life. Parents are often expected to have a role to play in therapy, yet there has been little in terms of large-scale research seeking more about parental experiences of having a child who stammers. An on-line survey was devised and sent out to parents via the British Stammering Association (BSA). Recruitment to the study was broad to encourage parents from a variety of backgrounds to the complete the survey, and to try to access parents who may not have had any professional advice or therapy. The questionnaire was developed from themes emerging from parent studies using qualitative methodology (e.g. Glogowska and Campbell, 2000; Goodhue, Onslow, Quine, O’Brian and Hearne, 2010; Hayhow, 2009; Plexico and Burrus, 2012;) with questions categorised into 6 main areas: beliefs about causes of stammering, level of concern, information seeking, strategies used to support their child, views of assessment and views of therapy. Quantitative and qualitative data from 69 parents of children who stammer (aged 10 years and under) are reported. The results revealed that parents had high levels of concern about the impact of stammering on their child; most did not know the causes of stammering or put it down to an environmental cause; and they employed a range of strategies to support their child. Most parents sought out speech and language therapy, but many experienced difficulties in accessing this support. Their experiences of therapy highlighted how important therapy was for the parent as much as for the child and that the support should come from a suitably trained and experienced specialist therapist.

The use of virtual worlds and video games offer exciting new avenues for the treatment of communication disorders and ongoing client support. But these new avenues need time to be envisaged, developed and rigorously evaluated. Also, perhaps the potential users themselves of such systems will need additional time to become comfortable and able to interact efficiently with them. Conceivably during this era of rapid technological advancements some basic virtual systems could be more swiftly introduced and trialled in order to complement existing therapy and support methods. A video-based simulation platform called Scenari-Aid fits this criterion. The aim of this study was to survey the perceptions of people who stutter who had used Scenari-Aid to assist them with their fluency and related anxieties. Could a simple, and relatively cheap to develop, simulation system have perceived benefits for a person who stutters and could these perceived benefits be translated beyond their practice environment? Over a six month period starting in late 2011, a 54 question online survey was made avail able to people who stutter and who were members of Speak Easy Australia and the McGuire Programme (Australia). To be eligible for the study you had to be over 18, have worked through a majority of the scenarios that were included in the Scenari-Aid application and have given the application more than one single attempt. It was assumed that most of the respondents would have been actively using a fluency shaping technique of some form during that time period. Questions were themed in terms of product quality, perceptions of fluency, value to therapy, effect on anxiety and product worth. Overall 37 completed responses were gathered and analysed using descriptive statistics. The results of this study were very encouraging in terms of the perceived effects that a simple simulation system could offer a person who stutters. Broadly speaking a majority of the users of Scenari-Aid found the system intuitive to use and understand. The most encouraging results stemmed from respondent's perception of their fluency and anxiety. Users indicated that by using this simple system that they felt their levels of fluency and speech confidence increasing. In terms of anxiety a majority of the users indicated that the system helped to ease anxieties related to speaking in public. Importantly though a majority of the users indicated that the system assisted them to better manage their speech and aided with self-critiquing speech progress. The results of this study indicate that there are perceived benefits for people who stutter to use video-based simulations to assist them with overall levels of fluency and social speaking confidence. The study also indicates that such a system could perhaps compliment conventional speech therapy and related support systems. More research is now required to investigate beyond user perceptions and to evaluate if indeed a simple video-based simulation system has real positive effects on rates of fluency, levels of anxiety and worth to conventional therapy techniques.

Persistent developmental stammering is characterised by primarily non-fluent patterns, such as prolongations, repetitions, and pauses during the speech flow of a speaker. Furthermore, additional individual symptoms can occur such as avoidance of special words. All of these symptoms arise frequently in stammered speech. To date, our knowledge concerning the origins, causes, and manifestation of developmental stammering remains under specified and different theories exist which try to explain the phenomenon of stammering. Theories consider, amongst other factors, motor speech difficulties and linguistic or phonological problems as explanations for the phenomenon of stammering. Much research has been performed considering children who stammer and different explanatory theories. However, adults with persistent developmental stammering are rarely investigated, especially, related to features which are described as triggers during childhood for the onset of stammering. Multiple approaches have been made to link stammering behaviour to linguistic variability and complexity. One new solution is to approach stammering within a psycholinguistic framework which gives the promise of a more cohesive understanding of stammering. This psycholinguistic framework includes input, lexical presentations, and output. By assessing input and output, a particular aspect about the nature of stammering could be localised. Hence,the aim of this study is to investigate these levels in adults with persistent developmental stammering. In pilot MSc work the author found clear differences in phonological measures between adults who do and adults who do not stammer. This current PhD work aims to explore the differences more systematically and attempts to discover psycholinguistic differences between adults who stammer and their counterparts. Additionally, a test tool which is sensitive to test stammering inadults in a psycholinguistic manner is developed. The recent stage of the project is marked by finalising the tasks of the developed test tool and ensuring its sensitivity and validity. Additionally, the test tool will be piloted and evaluated with regard to missing or dispensable tasks. Included tasks are, amongst others, spoonerism performances in different setups (non-words, real words, with a time ticker, measuring of reaction time), spelling of non-words, reading of non-words, non-word repetitions (with and without reaction time), and auditory discrimination. Additionally, the recent stage is characterised by confirming the broader research design. Participants with dyslexia are also considered as a second control group. Furthermore, the project can be divided in two phases; phase 1 is the general assessment of all participants(including control groups), phase 2 describes case analyses of participants who stammer with regard to individual features such as secondary symptoms. The presentation will cover the basic ideas of the test tool and the methodology. The discussion should include feedback about the developed test tool, as well as ideas and thoughts about the methodology part of the project. Questions for the audience to consider: - Is the developed test tool sensitive and valid? - Are the included tasks appropriate regarding the aim of the research? - Do you have general feedback on the test tool? - If you critically appraise the research design and the test tool from your individual perspective, what points can you make?

Various recorded studies have found that it is possible to reduce the severity of stuttering through the use of hypnosis. Yet, there have been very limited studies on the effect of hypnosis as a means of stuttering treatment. Some studies concluded that hypnosis reduces the severity of stuttering in the long term (Moss & Oackley, 1997), while others claim to a short term effect (Bloodstein, 1995). Most studies do not elaborate on the measures or techniques used to evaluate the impact of hypnosis treatment on stuttering. This study examined the influence of hypnotic therapy on a PWS volunteer. The stammering was analyzed in two ways: 1) Measurement of the overt stammering: a. percentage of stammering syllables- ss%, b. Stuttering like dysfluency SLD (Yairi, 1996). c. average number of repetitions (Ambrose & Yairi 1999). 2) Measurement of covert stammering was done by: a. Speech Situation Checklist-SSC (Brutten, 1985). b. State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) (Spielberger, 1966). During the hypnosis the participant was offered suggestions of ego strengthening, treating past traumas, and enhancing his sense of control. The treatment took place through 8 treatment sessions and one follow up session. The suggestions were offered to try to reduce the severity of both the overt and covert features of stammering. The stuttering was recorded while reading and spontaneously speaking in the beginning and ending of each session. In addition, two questionnaires were filled in at the beginning and ending of therapy. The results showed that the stammering severity was reduced at the end of each session compared to the beginning. The results also showed that some of the improvements only lasted a short period of time while others lasted until the follow up session. Moreover, the covert features of stammering pointed to a change in the subject's feelings and perceptions.

Traversing the undulating experience of a university degree can be an emotional journey for many students. But imagine the same journey for a student who has to contend with the uncertainty that a stutter gives to the ability to effectively communicate. There has been little research focus on the school experiences of children and teenagers who stutter, but there has been even less on the experiences of university students who stutter. The aim of this study wasto give a voice to people who stutter who have engaged with the Australian Higher Education system so that their experiences and views can be shared. It is hoped that this study will (1)prompt university students who stutter to be more proactive in accessing and asking for assistance when required and (2) educate university staff about how to better facilitate learning for these students. During 2009 a 58 question online survey was made available to Australian people who stutter aged 18 or older who had enrolled in a university degree course within the past 10 years. The survey was advertised via Australian stuttering-related Facebook groups, online stuttering forums and to eligible members of both the Australian Speak Easy Association and the McGuire Programme (Australia). Overall 102 full and valid responses were recorded during a five month period. The questions used were a mixture of scaled, open and closed ended types. Results were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Initially from a surface level view of the results of this study were encouraging and also surprising. Stuttering had only influenced 14 of the 102 surveyed students in terms of their degree choices and many of these choices prepared them for roles requiring strong communication skills. Amongst all the respondents only one had dropped out of university up to that point in time because of stuttering-related problems and of the 90 who had successfully graduated only 11 of them had admitted that stuttering was an influence on their post-graduate career choice. But once the data was investigated more thoroughly it was found that underneath all the academic success were stories of dissatisfaction and lost opportunities in terms of social interactions, academic engagement and at times also grade results. Some students had purposefully underperformed and avoided communicating with university teachers and peers in order to avoid the stress of stuttering. Also very few students had accessed any disability support service that their university had on offer. Those students who had accessed support services found the experience to be confusing, with many different steps and lack of flexibility. This study indicates that Australian universities need to be better informed about stuttering and more flexible in terms of offering support for students who stutter. However, students also need to be better informed in terms of the benefits of accessing support provision. There is a need to further explore the reasons and repercussions of student interactions with universities in order to fully educate all parties involved and enable a more constructive educational experience for tertiary students who stutter.