Citation for Honors of the American Speech-Hearing-Language Association

The following announcement appeared in ASHA NEWS in the ASHA Magazine, November 1992, p. 10.

Williams is professor emeritus, University of Iowa, and vice president of professional affairs of the Stuttering Foundation of America. He has been actively engaged throughout his 40-year career in evaluating and providing treatment to people who stutter. As a person who stutters, he has a unique perspective on the internal feelings engendered by stuttering. Williams is also interested in how stuttering can be prevented as well as treated. Williams has been described as a master clinician, helping over the years hundreds of children and adults, and also serving as a model for those observing his clinical work. He was awarded the Outstanding Clinical Achievement Award for Iowa by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation.

Williams, a highly productive scholar, has published 19 book chapters or monographs and 32 articles. His articles have appeared in the Journal Of Speech and Hearing Research; Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in the Schools; Perceptual and Motor Skills, and elsewhere. He has held editorial posts for JSHD, JSHR, and Asha. He also served two terms on the Executive Council, back in the 1960s the ultimate governing body of ASHA. He also had a significant impact on the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation, serving both as vice president and then as president in 1972-1976.

Particularly noteworthy over the past 31 years is his work with the Stuttering Foundation of America. Williams has also made many presentations abroad and was the first American to be invited to address the entire faculty and student body of the University of London on the topic of stuttering, as well as the first American to make an invited presentation on stuttering to the Royale French Academy of Phoniatry in Paris. His most recent books include Stuttering and You: Questions and Answers (1989) and The Child Who Stutters: To the Pediatrician (1991). The Honors Resolution cites Williams for "the superb insight, empathy, unconditional positive regard, and genuineness with clients he demonstrates as a Master Clinician."