Empowering Advocacy in Children, Teens and Adults who Stutter: How and Why Sharing is Caring

Webinar description: Contrary to the widespread notion that that effective communication requires fluency, the Blank Center’s CARE (Communication, Advocacy, Resiliency, and Education) Model rests on the evidence-based understanding that when children, teens, and adults (1) learn communication is not defined or limited by fluency, (2) learn to share about their stuttering meaningfully, (3) develop the resiliency needed to navigate adversity, and (4) are knowledgeable about stuttering and communication, they are empowered to Dream. Speak. Live. This lecture series will demonstrate the rationale for, and application of the Advocacy component of this whole-person, non-ableist approach to assessment and treatment.

Speaker: Courtney Byrd is Professor, Associate Chair, and Graduate Advisor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin, where she also serves as Founding and Executive Director of the Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research, which is comprised of the Michael and Tami Lang Stuttering Institute, the Dealey Family Foundation Stuttering Clinic, and the Dr. Jennifer and Emanuel Bodner Developmental Stuttering Lab, as well as a satellite center in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Byrd also presently serves as the 2024-2027 President of the World Stuttering and Cluttering Organization. She has dedicated her life’s work to the development of a non-ableist approach to the assessment and treatment of stuttering with the aim of empowering children, teens, and adults to stutter openly, speak confidently, communicate effectively, and advocate meaningfully so that stuttering does not stop them from living life to the fullest. She authored the Blank Center CARE Model manual and related strengths-based CARE assessment, the manualized protocol for Camp Dream. Speak. Live., and co-authored 100+ publications.