An evening with Scott Yaruss - what do you want from therapy?

An evening with Scott Yaruss – what do you want from therapy?

Monday 18 September, 6 to 8 pm

City Lit, Keeley Street, London WC2B 4BA

Cost: £7.50 (includes glass of wine/soft drink).

The British Stammering Association and City Lit are delighted to welcome Dr Scott Yaruss all the way from Michigan State University to the UK. Scott is an internationally renowned speech and language therapist and researcher who places the needs of people who stammer at the heart of therapy. This will be a rare opportunity to hear him speak in the UK.

Are you often torn between your desire to communicate your ideas, your hope to speak fluently and at the same time your wish to avoid feelings of shame and embarrassment? If so, you’re definitely not alone as this is a very common experience for people who stammer.

Over the decades, numerous therapy approaches have been developed to help people who stutter achieve various goals: improving fluency, changing stammering, and reducing negative reactions..

More recently, speech therapy for people who stammer has moved toward a more integrated approach to therapy, in which you are encouraged to seek a ‘balance’ between all of these various methods.

Dr Yaruss will highlight the problems associated with this view of seeking a ‘balance’. The idea that everyone must seek a balance ignores the fact that different individuals have different goals for their speech and their lives. Some people may wish to emphasize fluency while others prefer to be empowered to speak the way they speak. Where do you think you stand on this debate?

This workshop will give you the opportunity to hear about these ideas from an expert in stammering therapy and to reflect on them for yourself.

You’ll come away with a better idea of

• what you might like from therapy
• how you can know and speak your mind
• say what you want to say the way you want to, and
• be who you want to be.

Reserve your place today! For further details, contact speechtherapy@citylit.ac.uk / 020 7492 2579.

J. Scott Yaruss, is a Professor of Communicative Sciences and Disorders at Michigan State University. His research examines factors that may contribute to the development of stuttering in young children as well as methods for assessing and evaluating treatment outcomes in children and adults who stutter. He has published roughly 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals and more than 100 other articles, papers, and chapters on stuttering. He is author, co-author, or editor of several resources on stuttering, including the Overall Assessment of the Speaker’s Experience of Stuttering (OASES), a comprehensive evaluation tool for children, adolescents, and adults who stutter;