The Role of Narratives in the Development of Stuttering as a Problem.

Purpose: Narratives are how people make sense of experiences and give meaning to their lives (Bruner, 1990). Use of narrative therapy (White, 2007) with people who stutter to facilitate the development of preferred stories (as opposed to problem-based stories) has been documented in the literature (Logan, 2013; Ryan, O'Dwyer, & Leahy, 2015). The purpose of this research was to explore the role of narratives in the development of stuttering as a problem for people who stutter.

Strategies to optimize the impact of nutritional surveys and epidemiological studies.

The development of nutrition and health guidelines and policies requires reliable scientific information. Unfortunately, theoretical considerations and empirical evidence indicate that a large percentage of science-based claims rely on studies that fail to replicate. The session "Strategies to Optimize the Impact of Nutrition Surveys and Epidemiological Studies" focused on the elements of design, interpretation, and communication of nutritional surveys and epidemiological studies to enhance and encourage the production of reliable, objective evidence for use in developing dietary guidance for the public.

Witnessing stories: Definitional Ceremonies in Narrative Therapy with adults who stutter.

Background: Narrative therapy (White & Epston, 1990) was developed as an approach to counselling, as a response to the power relations that influence people's lives. Its use with people who stutter has been documented. A basic tenet of narrative therapy is that the dominant problem-saturated narrative is challenged by externalizing the problem, in due course facilitating development of an alternative narrative.

Paying attention to therapy discourse: identifying therapy processes and practice in talk about talk.

Therapy discourse between the client and clinician has specific objectives to ameliorate problems associated with communication and swallowing disorders and is highly specialized. Analysis of this interaction that is the essence of therapy demonstrates the roles played by participants, revealing layers of meaning and assisting clinicians to redefine and refine their ideas about therapy. In this article, the authors analyze a series of extracts of therapy interaction to explore how therapy rapport is coconstructed by participants through talking and how roles are negotiated during the process of problem solving in therapy.

"Cajoling" as a means of engagement in the dysphagia clinic.

Rapport and cooperation are key features of many clinical interactions including those of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and clients. A desirable by-product of rapport can be described as "engagement" where participants share a mutual focus while working toward a common goal. Through an analysis of clinical discourse, this article maps the trajectory of engagement as manifest in interactions between a SLP and a client with right hemisphere damage and dysphagia.

Multiple voices in Charles Van Riper's desensitization therapy.

Background: Charles Van Riper (1905-94) author, researcher and practitioner, was one of the major contributors to the field of stuttering in the 20th century. His series of Action Therapy videotapes provide a useful model of how therapy was implemented by a master clinician.

Aims: Van Riper's session with a client is analysed to reveal how voices are used by these two participants during desensitization therapy, and to demonstrate how Van Riper's expertise manifests itself during the session.

Judging stuttering in an unfamiliar language: the importance of closeness to the native language.

In order to test the hypothesis that closeness to the listener's native language is a determining factor when identifying stuttering in an unfamiliar language, three panels of different linguistic background were asked to make judgements of stuttering in a sample of Dutch speakers. It was found that a panel speaking Dutch and a panel speaking English (both West Germanic languages) performed better in identifying Dutch people who stutter and people who do not stutter than a panel speaking Brazilian Portuguese (a Romance language) thus confirming the existence of a closeness of language influence. Further analysis showed that when the native language is more remote from the unfamiliar language there is the possibility of a higher risk for false positive identification.

Changing perspectives for practice in stuttering: echoes from a Celtic past, when wordlessness was entitled to time.

Changing perspectives for practice in stuttering therapy are informed by the changes in knowledge, social values, and belief systems of a society. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF; World Health Organization, 2001) has a sociological emphasis with a focus on the ability and functioning of the person, and it is currently fostering changes in perspectives for working with those who stutter. These perspectives are reflected in Irish social mores in the 7th and 8th centuries, when social and legal codes enshrined the rights of people with speech disabilities in law and recognized the dignity and integrity of people with such disabilities.

Therapy talk: analyzing therapeutic discourse.

Therapeutic discourse is the talk-in-interaction that represents the social practice between clinician and client. This article invites speech-language pathologists to apply their knowledge of language to analyzing therapy talk and to learn how talking practices shape clinical roles and identities. A range of qualitative research approaches, including ethnography of communication, conversation analysis, and frame theory, provides a background for the case presentation of a 13-year-old girl who stutters.