Workshop Helps People Take Charge of Stuttering

ALBANY (March 24, 2016) — The College of Saint Rose will hold its 40th weekend workshop for people who stutter.

This year’s Weekend Workshop for Effective Communication will be held Friday, April 1, through Sunday, April 3, in the Thelma P. Lally School of Education, 1009 Madison Ave., Albany, New York.

During the three-day session, people who stutter will receive intensive therapy to help them conquer their fears about speech and to learn new ways to better manage their fluency and their stuttering. The workshop addresses the physical, emotional and environmental aspects of stuttering through one-on-one and group sessions. Participants learn to implement speech techniques related to typical speech production and techniques to help ease or take control of their stuttering. Clients also are provided with opportunities to practice these skills in a variety of speaking situations. Saint Rose graduate students in communication sciences and disorders provide the therapy under the direct supervision of speech-language pathologists who volunteer their services.

Saturday evening will feature special activities to celebrate the workshop’s 40th anniversary. Following a brief look back by past and current clients, filmmaker Michael Turner will address participants by video and introduce “The Way We Talk,” his feature-length documentary about life with stuttering. The group will then enjoy an exclusive screening of Turner’s film at Albany’s Madison Theater. The film has been shown most recently at the One World International Human Rights Film Festival in Prague, as well as at DocuFest Atlanta and many other venues worldwide. After the April 2 premiere, it will continue to play at the Madison Theater through the remainder of the week for public viewing.

The Weekend Workshop is offered by the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at The College of Saint Rose. Conducted annually through the College’s Winkler Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic, the workshop is an intensive treatment program for those who stutter. The clinic also offers a weekly stuttering treatment program throughout the academic year for people ages 7-adult. This individualized, holistic, high-frequent treatment combines individual and group sessions. More information is available at www.strose.edu/campus-offices/joy-s-emery-center.

For more information about the fluency programs available at The College of Saint Rose, contact Assistant Professor Julia Unger, program director, at ungerj@strose.edu or Liam Kelsh in the Winkler Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic at 518-337-4914.

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