Becoming an effective clinician for people who stutter: you can do it!

摘要

1 he purpose of this issue of Seminars in Speech and Language has been to help speech-language pathologists improve their ability to help people who stutter. One feature of this update that readers will certainly notice is that it has not been a comprehensive presentation of all possible approaches to treating stuttering. The knowledge base in stuttering treatment is vast, and presenting a full summary of the literature in a single issue of a journal would be impossible. Of course, it is important for clinicians to have a good understanding of the background literature in the field. As seen in Bernstein Ratner's article, there has been a tremendous amount of research on stuttering in recent years, some of which has substantially altered earlier understanding of the disorder. Current findings about the genetic and neurological underpinnings of stuttering have significant consequences for treatment, as do findings about the broader consequences of stuttering for people's quality of life and the effectiveness of various treatment approaches. Still, much work remains to be done, and new discoveries and refinements appear in the research literature regularly.