Australian Stuttering Conference

Conference Schedule: Friday 22 November

8:30am

Doors open, registration, coffee and tea served.

9:00am

Opening comments from Elaina Kefalianos.

9:10am

Professor J Scott Yaruss

Roles and goals of stuttering therapists in the era of neurodiversity

This presentation will be delivered live online via the Zoom platform.

J Scott Yaruss, PhD, CCC-SLP, is a professor of communicative sciences and disorders at Michigan State University and president of Stuttering Therapy Resources, Inc., a specialty publishing company focused on clinical guides about stuttering for speech-language pathologists (www.StutteringTherapyResources.com). Yaruss is a board-certified specialist in stuttering, cluttering, and fluency disorders (BCS-SCF) and a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. He has published more than 130 peer-reviewed papers and more than 300 other materials including the Overall Assessment of the Speaker’s Experience of Stuttering and several therapy guidebooks. He has given more than 800 professional development workshops about stuttering and counseling for audiences around the world. His research, which focuses on understanding and diminishing the adverse impact experience by people who stutter, is funded by both the US National Institutes of Health and the US National Science Foundation.

9:55am

Professor Kari-Anne Bottegaard Næss and Associate Professor Linn Stokke Guttormsen

Operationalisation of stuttering

Kari-Anne B. Næss (PhD) is a professor in speech and language pathology at the Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo in Norway. Her research interests include childhood speech, language and literacy in typical and atypical populations. Professor Næss is especially interested in developmental stuttering and leads among others the Effective Stuttering Treatment (EST)-project.

Linn Stokke Guttormsen is an associate professor at the Department of Early Childhood Education, OsloMet. Her research interests include practices among professionals working with young children, impact and treatment of stuttering in young children. Her dissertation mainly focused on how young children are affected by stuttering, both from the perspective of the children themselves, the parents and the kindergarten teachers, while the focus shifted to investigating the effect and the content of treatment programs for young children when working as a post doc in the EST-project. She is also a member of the scientific board of the Norwegian SLP organization.

10:20am

Ms Sarah Horton

Variability of Stuttering: Implications for Clinical Outcome Measurement

Sarah Horton is a clinician-researcher and PhD candidate with The University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. She has worked clinically as a speech pathologist since 2019, and with the University of Melbourne Master of Speech Pathology teaching staff since 2024. She is a board member of STUTTA, an organisation aimed at supporting Australians who stutter, and volunteers as a teaching artist with the Stuttering Association for the Young: Australia (SAY: AU). Her passion is raising awareness about stuttering by educating the general public and empowering people who stutter to speak up and have their voices heard.

10:45am

Panel discussion and Q&A session

11:00am

Morning tea

11:30am

Professor Angela Morgan

Progress in understanding the genetics of stuttering

Professor Angela Morgan is a senior speech pathologist, NHMRC Dame Elizabeth Blackburn Fellow and leads the Speech and Language group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia. Angela is also a Dame Kate Campbell Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne. Her expertise is in the diagnosis of child speech disorders. She is Director of the Speech Apraxia and Genetics Clinic at the Royal Children’s Hospital. Angela leads the Centre of Research Excellence – Translational Centre for Speech Disorders.

12:05pm

Professor Kari-Anne Bottegaard Næss and Associate Professor Linn Stokke Guttormsen

A phase II trial of the Less Complex Utterances for Less Stuttering treatment program

Kari-Anne B. Næss (PhD) is a professor in speech and language pathology at the Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo in Norway. Her research interests include childhood speech, language and literacy in typical and atypical populations. Professor Næss is especially interested in developmental stuttering and leads among others the Effective Stuttering Treatment (EST)-project.

Linn Stokke Guttormsen is an associate professor at the Department of Early Childhood Education, OsloMet. Her research interests include practices among professionals working with young children, impact and treatment of stuttering in young children. Her dissertation mainly focused on how young children are affected by stuttering, both from the perspective of the children themselves, the parents and the kindergarten teachers, while the focus shifted to investigating the effect and the content of treatment programs for young children when working as a post doc in the EST-project. She is also a member of the scientific board of the Norwegian SLP organization.

12:30pm

Ms Kristina Tufteskog Spanne

Parental Implementation of treatment strategies in the Oslo treatment

Kristina Tufteskog Spanne (MA) is educated as a speech, language pathologist and works as a research assistant in the Effective Stuttering Treatment (EST)-project at the University of Oslo, Norway. She has also previously experiences as a research assistant in other projects involving individuals with different types of communication disorders.

12:45pm

Panel discussion and Q&A session

1:00pm

Lunch break

1:45pm

Professor Hilde Hofslundsengen

Parents' perception of their children's anxiety symptoms and stuttering impact before and after the Oslo treatment trial

Hilde Hofslundsengen is a professor at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. She is a trained speech and language pathologist with a PhD in special needs education. Her research interest is children's language and literacy development, children who stutter, and ECEC teachers' professional development.

2:05pm

Dr Georgie Johnson

Addressing stuttering, treatment, and psychosocial well-being in school-age children

Dr Georgie Johnson is a clinical researcher with an interest in childhood stuttering treatment and the psychological impact of stuttering for children. Georgie completed her PhD in 2024 investigating management of stuttering during the school years. Part of program of research was a Phase II trial of the Lidcombe Program with a group of 6-12 year old children from across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong. From this trial, Georgie and colleagues have published a range of freely accessible practical recommendations and clinical resources for community clinicians to use to optimise treatment outcomes for their school age clients. Georgie is also a Director of the Stuttering Association for the Young Australia and continues to work in the field to explore psychosocial support for young people who stutter.

2:40pm

Associate Professor Robyn Lowe

Forward to the future…assessment and treatment of stuttering

Robyn is a speech pathologist whose work is focused on increasing access to speech and anxiety treatments for people who stutter. She is involved in the development and evaluation of telepractice and internet speech and anxiety treatment programs for children, adolescents, and adults who stutter. Robyn is a member of the international Camperdown Program Trainers Consortium and is a workshop presenter. Robyn's research interests include exploring the psychological aspects associated with stuttering and the impact on the long-term maintenance of speech treatment benefits. This involves the investigation of information processing biases and anxiety maintenance with those who stutter.

3:15pm

Panel discussion and Q&A session

3:30pm

Closing comments

3:45pm

Drinks and networking

5:00pm

Conference closes.