LIFE
September 25, 2012
Department of Communication
Sciences and Disorders
 One
of eight departments in the College of
Health and Public Affairs
 Accredited since 1986
 Undergraduate Program: 611 full-time and
133 part-time students
 Master’s Program: 199 students
 Doctoral Program in Language and Literacy
(with College of Education): 7 students
 Largest Speech/Language Pathology
program in the nation
College of Health and Public
Affairs at UCF
Communication Disorders Clinic
 Research
Pavilion on Research Parkway (Suite 155)
 Provide
undergraduate and graduate students with
an opportunity to observe and get hands-on
experience in the assessment and treatment of
people of all ages with speech, language and
hearing disorders.
 Specialty



Clinics (among which)
Aphasia House
Atlantic Region FAAST Assistive Technology
Demonstration Center
Fluency Clinic
Martine Vanryckeghem, Ph.D.
Professor, University of Central Florida
Guest Professor, University of Gent, Belgium
Certified Speech-Language Pathologist
Board Recognized Fluency Specialist
Fellow, American Speech-Language and Hearing
Association (ASHA)
Department of Communication Sciences and
Disorders
College of Health and Public Affairs
Fluency Clinic
Fluency Disorders
Stuttering
Cluttering
Neurogenic
Dysfluency
Psychogenic Dysfluency
Dysfluency can be a correlate of
neurogenic disorders that are
Cortical,
 Tourette
Sub-cortical or Non-cortical
syndrome
 Cluttering
 Stroke
 Parkinson’s
 Asperger syndrome
 Dysarthria
 Closed head injury
 Tumor
 Down syndrome
 etc…
Dysfluency can be a correlate of
psychogenic disorders
Hysteria
Social
phobias
Social anxiety
Schizophrenia
Bi-polar disorder
People whose fluency is disordered
have a
multi-dimensional problem
Multi-dimensional approach to
assessment and treatment
Fluency Disorders
 Differential
diagnosis of people with fluency
disorders requires assessment of speechassociated
affect
 behavior
 cognitive (attitude)

 Differential
disorders
treatment of people with fluency
AFFECTIVE
Negative emotional
reaction to
speech situations
sounds/words
COGNITIVE
Speech-related attitude
BEHAVIORAL
- Stuttering
- Escape
Avoidance responses
Multi-dimensionality
 Assessment
and Treatment involves:
 Affective
 Behavioral
 Cognitive
Facts about Stuttering
 Age
of onset
 Typically
between age 2 - 6
 Genetics
 Gender-specific
 Brain
functioning
 Brain
genetic predisposition
imaging suggests mixed laterality
rather than left brain control of the
speech mechanism
The Person who Stutters
 Behavioral
 Stuttering
behaviors
 Coping behaviors
 Affective
 Situations
 Sounds/words
 Cognitive
 Negative
attitude about speech and
speech-associated ability
Can we “cure” stuttering?

Not at this time

However, we can reduce one’s
 Stuttering
 Coping
behaviors
behaviors
 Anxiety of sounds/words/situations
 Negative thinking
Generalization and Maintenance
Fluency treatment cannot be
confined to the clinical setting

Generalization/carry-over to the
‘outside world’ is crucial to the
success of treatment

Maintenance of therapy gains over
time
