10th Oxford Dysfluency Conference

By Ellen Kelly, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University

One hundred ninety-two delegates from 32 countries met in Oxford, UK, marking 30 years since the first Oxford Dysfluency Conference (ODC) in 1984. Several age-defying attendees of this year’s conference also were present at the inaugural conference. Co-chairs, Sharon Millard, The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children, UK, and Dave Rowley, De Montfort University, UK, and their scientific committee, provided a varied program on topics pertaining to dysfluency assessment, treatment, and including both basic and applied research findings.

The conference venue provided opportunities for learning and lively discussion in both formal and informal settings. Clinicians and researchers alike feasted on information that will enhance their work.

Keynote speakers included Soo-Eun Chang, U. of Michigan, USA, Jan McAllister, U. of East Anglia, UK, Henny-Annie Bijleveld, U. Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, Brenda Carey, U. of Sydney, and La Trobe, U. Australia, Marie-Christine Franken, Caroline de Sonneville-Koedoot and their colleagues (Netherlands), and an international panel seeking a consensus approach to evaluating treatment outcomes from Croatia, Australia, Germany, the UK, and Iran.

Topics ranged from brain network connectivity in children who stutter to treatment methods – those for Adults Who Stutter (AWS) incorporating behavioral, cognitive and emotional factors, and, at the other end of the age range, a comparison of two seemingly contradictory approaches to early intervention with Children Who Stutter (CWS).

Delegates were treated to an intriguing diagnostic journey with an AWS suffering Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that rivaled any Sherlock Holmes mystery and exposed to new frontiers in technology to enhance intervention. The conference concluded with presentation and discussion of a proposed one-item measure of communication effectiveness with potential application across every type of treatment for People Who Stutter (PWS) of all ages.

As a first-time attendee, I was particularly struck by the unified desire of the attendees, sometimes with disparate points of view, to work together and learn from one another to advance our knowledge and the quality of our services to those who stutter.

Master’s and doctoral students from around the world presented their research, with some competing for the coveted Travers Reid Award. The judges selected Freda Walters, U. of Cape Town, South Africa, in recognition of her ambitious and impactful study, “Classroom-based intervention to change peers’ attitudes toward children who stutter: A feasibility study.”

One of the many highlights was a Stuttering Foundation T-shirt that was signed by a variety of delegates and presented to the conference organizers as a token of remembrance and appreciation. Unspoken, of course, but perhaps a not-so-subtle invitation to shoulder the task, once more, in 2017!

From the 2014 Fall Newsletter

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Frank Wolf

This Virginian congressman has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1981. The longtime supporter of the Stuttering Foundation drew national attention to childhood stuttering in 2006 when he submitted an article about Tiger Woods from the SFA newsletter to the Congressional Record. The congressman is featured in the Stuttering Foundation's Famous People Who Stutter brochure.

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.

Bruce Willis

While the world knows Bruce Willis as an A-list actor, few know that he struggled with stuttering throughout his first 20 years.

Walter Bruce Willis was born in 1955 in West Germany to his German mother, Marlene, and his American GI father, David Willis. The family settled in David’s hometown of Penns Grove, New Jersey in 1957, and the couple has three other children.

Jack Paar

While Jack Paar is among the most prominent of the entertainers on the Stuttering Foundation’s list of Famous People Who Stutter, he deserves special recognition as he was among the first to openly address his stuttering in public. As host of The Tonight Show from 1957-1962, he spoke of his difficulties as a stuttering child and teenager, giving hope to young people.

Darren Sproles

Darren Sproles, a former player for The Philadelphia Eagles, the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers, made history in 2007 when he became the first player in NFL history to return a kickoff and a punt for his first two NFL touchdowns in the same game. In 2021, he was selected to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.