Continuing Education
Hi. My name is Brandi. My classmates Laurel, Caitlin, and I are second-year SLP grad students. We are currently taking a class on stuttering. Do you have any recommendations on how to continue learning about the best EBP to help PWS after graduation (specific training, CEUs, conferences, etc.)? Thanks!
Hi Brandi and Caitlin!
The best way to learn, is to meet as many PWS as possible, preferably in all ages – if you still don’t know which age group you prefer to focus on. If you have met one person who stutter, then you have met only one person. Continue your important SLP training and practice, and keep updated when clinical research and ‘best SLP practice’ are concerned. To find out what works for whom may be one of the most important question in therapy, because the approaches/specific elements in therapy are working so differently from one person to another. If one person finds something in therapy useful, it may be very inappropriately for another person. My best advice is therefore to listen carefully to each PWS, and to try to understand the situation and stuttering impact from the person’s own perspective. Early in the collaborative process, get to know what the persons themselves find important in life. Listen with warmth, empathy and respect when they are sharing considerations regarding goals, wishes in therapy, as well as possible barriers in life. To know their previous experiences regarding professional/non-professional support is of importance, regardless if their experiences are negative, neutral and/or positive. Give them enough space, because they are the best sources of information. I assume that there always will be a gap between the EBP and the PBE (practical based evidence). So far, we know that many interventions are shown to be evidence-based, but we still don’t know what kind of support which each of them will benefit the most. Therefore, the dialogues between the PWSs and the SLPs need to be honest and authentic. We have to give them enough opportunities and space for consecutively feedback and considerations on what they experience useful/not useful therapy elements througout the therapy process (don’t wait too long!) and not too late or when the therapy is finalized. Informal/formal evaluations, especially from the PWS may reduce the gap between the EBP and the PBE.
The master of SLP applies tacit, embodied-contextual action as well as ‘technical’ knowledge in a context-sensitive, secure and individually tailored manner (Costain & Sønsterud, 2023). I believe that the gap between teory/research and clinical practice is best bridged by focusing on the PWS themselves, because this will simultaneously advance our field of speech-language therapy. The clinician skills in therapy, require a continuing practice and development of speech-language therapy (even though some of us can regard ourselves as experienced SLPs:-)). Maybe we never will feel that we are in a position that we have fulfilled our final SLP graduation, and this is perhaps a feeling we might live very well with!
If you are interested to read more about how we may try to bridge the gap between knowledge produced by research, and that produced in clinical practice within the field of SLP, you are welcome to read the first chapter in the book ‘Dialogue without barriers. A comprehensive approach to dealing with stuttering’. The book contains many interesting chapters about stuttering, and was published this year. You can download it for free.
All the best wishes from
Hilda
I agree with Hilda that learning from people who stutter is essential! I will just add some resources: 1) the Open Stutter YouTube channel which features lots of wonderful stories, 2) the many podcasts out there by and for people who stutter (e.g., StutterTalk, Transcending Stuttering, Women Who Stutter: Our Stories, Proud Stutter), and 3) the many books/memoirs available (e.g., Out With It, Life on Delay, Every Waking Moment, and more!).