Stuttering: Fact or Fiction

Irving Wollman, M.A., CCC-Sp. is a clinical coordinator in the Division of Speech Pathology at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center where he also serves as chairperson for the Fluency Disorders Team. The Team was established to encourage specialization among clinical staff in the assessment and treatment of fluency disorders. Irv is certified as a Board Recognized Fluency Specialist by the Specialty Board on Fluency Disorders and has presented lectures and published articles on topics related to Fluency Disorders at both the local and state level. Irv teaches the graduate level course, Seminar in Stuttering, at the University of Cincinnati and has been a member of the Fluency Friday Plus organizational team

Katrina Zeit, M.H.A., M.A., CCC-SLP is a speech-language pathologist in the Speech Pathology Division of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Katrina is a member of the Division's Fluency Team and specializes in evaluating and treating preschool, school-age, and adolescent stuttering. Katrina has attended several of the Stuttering Foundation's programs and conferences and has also participated in the clinician's workshop for the Lidcombe Program for Early Stuttering, Since 2002, Katrina has supervised graduate students participating in Fluency Friday Plus, an intensive treatment workshop for children with stuttering disorders.

Fact or Fiction

by Irv Wollman and Katrina Zeit (Ohio, USA)

"Fact of Fiction" was developed as an interactive game which was initially used during classroom presentations about stuttering. It was designed to facilitate further desensitization for the student who stutters and at the same time educate fellow classmates about various aspects of the disorder in a light-hearted, yet factual way. The concept was derived from ESPN's Sports Center program in which two "authorities" debate a specific point of interest with humorous and descriptive information to support their claims. In our Fact or Fiction game we present an idea (e.g. "stuttering is contagious") and then ask two experts to argue the statement from opposite points of view. After each argument is presented, the students then decide with a show of hands, who told the "truth" and who presented the false, erroneous information. Our clinicians have had a great deal of fun presenting outrageous statements and information supporting their point of contention and our clients as well as their classmates have responded with great enthusiasm. Once the clarifying information is revealed, further discussion typically evolves regarding myths and realities. Areas to target can be dependent upon the age level of the client and his/her fellow classmates. We have also asked our own clients to help us create slides for the debatable points of interest.

Powerpoint: Fact or Fiction