About the professionals (in alphabetic order by last name):
Jaqueline Carmona was born in Düsseldorf, Germany in May 1975, lived several years in Switzerland. Is bilingual for German, speaks fluent English, and studied Italian.
Academic: Graduated in Speech Language Therapy from Alcoitão School of Health Sciences, 2003, and graduated in Linguistics from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities – New University of Lisbon, 1999. PhD candidate – Cognition and Language Sciences at the Catholic University – Institute of Health Sciences. European Fluency Specialist, European Fluency Specialists, since 2015.
Lecturing: Lecturer at Alcoitão School of Health Sciences since 2003.
Lecturer at the post-graduation European Clinical Specialization in Fluency Disorders since 2015.
Publications: Reichel, I., Ademola-Sakoya, G., Aumont Boucand, V., Bona, J., Carmona, J., Cosyns, M., … & Miyamoto, S. (2019). A Decade of Collaboration Among International Representatives of the International Cluttering Association. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 4(6), 1573-1580.
Derek E. Daniels, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Wayne State University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses. He received a 2018 Excellence in Teaching Award from Wayne State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Dr. Daniels has been a certified speech-language pathologist since 2002. He also serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Fluency disorders. Dr. Daniels is a person who stutters, provides clinical services for people who stutter, and supervises graduate student training in stuttering. He has participated in many self-help events, workshops, and clinical training programs for people who stutter, including Camp Shout Out. Dr. Daniels’ research focuses on public perceptions of people who stutter, identity construction, psycho-social experiences, and intersectionality. He is the current President-Elect of the Michigan Speech, Language, and Hearing Association.
Stephanie Lebsack, MS, CCC-SLP Steff became a speech-language pathologist because she has an older brother, Jasper, who is a person who stutters. Steff specializes in the treatment of stuttering and cluttering and is the current course designer/instructor for the graduate Fluency Disorders course for the Baylor University online Master’s Degree Program. She lives with her husband Kevin, her two beautiful young children Mary and Karter and a pug named Ritchie. When she isn’t playing with her kids or catching up on stuttering current events, she can be found baking, writing or reading. She is honored to be on the professional panel this year for the ISAD conference!
Jenny Packer, Jenny is a Speech and Language Therapist working for the National Health Service in the UK with over 15 years’ experience working with children and young people who stutter and their families. Jenny enjoys being a part of both the national and international stuttering community. She has contributed content to the British Stammering Association’s website (stamma.org) and was part of the International Fluency Association’s organizing committee for the IFA’s 8th World Congress in Lisbon, Portugal in 2015. This was followed by a role as co-chair of the organizing committee for the Inaugural Joint World Congress of the International Cluttering Association, International Fluency Association and International Stuttering Association, held in Hiroshima, Japan in 2018. When not working, Jenny enjoys running, crafting and cuddling her pet greyhound!
Scott Palisak Scott is a person who can stutter. He is also an Associate Professor at the University Akron, Ohio, who teaches Stuttering, Counseling, and Voice disorders at the graduate level along with supervising future SLPs. Further, he runs the MASS Lab (Mindfulness ACT Social Cognition and Stuttering) at the University of Akron. He also is the co-host and co-creator for The Act To Live Podcast (along with Jaime Michise) and is a partner with the 3C Digital Media Network LLC. Scott is devoted to being an Assistant Faculty member at Camp Shout Out, which is a magical camp for kids who stutter in Michigan. He is a passionate novelist (under the pen name B.D. Scott) and a musician and songwriter since he was 12 years old. He practices mindfulness meditation daily, values health, and appreciates the act of evolving as a person, Speech Language Pathologist and a fellow human in order to build a community and world of kindness and understanding.
Dr. Erik X. Raj holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and is a practicing speech-language pathologist who works with school-age children and adolescents with various communication difficulties. Additionally, he has a special interest in the assessment, treatment, and ongoing support of young people who stutter. He is currently an assistant professor and clinical supervisor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, and is also a facilitator at Camp Shout Out, a Michigan-based sleep away summer camp for young people who stutter.
Dr. Raj has obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology from Stockton University in New Jersey, and a Master of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Misericordia University in Pennsylvania. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
Hilda Sønsterud (PhD) is a SLP in Oslo, Norway. She works at Statped, Department of speech and language disorders, and she works primarily with treatment and clinical research related to stuttering and cluttering. Hilda is an active lecturer, she runs courses within the field of stuttering and cluttering, and she provides clinical practice for SLPs and SLP students. Her PhD-project at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, entitled “Stuttering therapy; What works for whom?” is a wider- ranging treatment study of individualized stuttering management tailored to the participants’ personal goals and preferences. The therapy format was grounded in practice-based evidence, and in context-sensitive considerations of what makes a difference to a particular person at a particular time point? Hilda has investigated the therapeutic alliance within stuttering treatment, and she is particularly engaged by how clinical research within the field of fluency disorders are defining evidence. Hilda is a national representative in the International Cluttering Association (ICA).
Rita Thurman has worked in the schools and in clinical settings in Utah, Idaho, Illinois, Montana and North Carolina since 1977. Her private practice in Raleigh, North Carolina and Bozeman, Montana focuses on the evaluation and treatment of children, teens and adults who stutter. She was awarded the Clinical Achievement Award by the NC Speech Language Hearing Association in 2012 and the Speech-Language Pathologist of the Year by the National Stuttering Association in 2015, both for her contributions to diagnosis and treatment for people who stutter.
She is a NSA Adult and TWST Chapter leader, and sponsors an annual Friend’s Workshop in NC. She is the Chair of the Executive Board of the American Board of Fluency and Fluency Disorders.
Katarzyna Węsierska is an Assistant Professor at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland and a speech-language therapist at the Logopedic Centre in Katowice. She is a European Fluency Specialist. In her research and clinical practice, she focuses mainly on fluency disorders. She coordinates a self-help group for people who stutter and/or clutter at the University of Silesia. Dr. Węsierska co-organizes the International Conference of Logopedics: Fluency Disorders: Theory and Practice at the University of Silesia. At the 11th Oxford Dysfluency Conference she was awarded the David Rowley Award for International Initiatives in Stuttering.
