About the Young Researchers Series Courses

The purpose of this series is to share recent research in stuttering, specifically by giving a platform to today’s younger researchers, who will be leading the field in the future. The series features speakers who have completed their PhD in the past 5 years.

The format consists of a video interview discussing highlights and clinical implications of their work. The goal of this series is to help SLPs stay up to date on current research in stuttering.

Course Content

This course features an interview with Dr. Hope Gerlach who discusses concealment and stigma. Dr. Gerlach presents her research on stuttering and labor market outcomes and stuttering as a concealable stigmatized identity. Clinical implications and future work are discussed.   

Learning Outcomes

Participants will be able to:

• Identify the disadvantages that people who stutter face in the labor market and how it is impacted by gender
• Define a concealable stigmatized identity 
• Describe the impact of concealment on the quality of life of people who stutter

Agenda

Run-time: 49:49

Interviewer questions:

• How did you become interested in stuttering research?
• Tell me about your research.
• Talk about your work with stuttering and labor market outcomes.
• What is the gender difference that you found here?
• How does this happen? Isn’t stuttering covered by the ADA?
• What can SLPs do to ensure that their clients are not discriminated against in the workplace?
• What is a conceivable stigmatized identity? How does this affect psychological health outcomes? 
• How can SLPs use this research in their clinical practice?
• How do I work on these concepts in an IEP context?
• What is the biggest thing that you want SLPs to take away from your research?

Presenters

Courtney Luckman, MA, CCC-SLP, is a person who stutters and clinician at speech IRL specializing in the areas of stuttering and autism. She has presented on stuttering research and clinical applications at several national conferences. Her masters thesis on lexical skills in children who stutter was recently published in the Journal of Fluency Disorders. Courtney is active in the stuttering community, currently serving as chair of the junior board for Shared Voices, a Chicago community center for people who stutter.  

Hope Gerlach PhD, CCC-SLP is an assistant professor at Western Michigan University. Her research focuses on identifying and reducing disparities in quality of life between people who stutter and typically fluent speakers. Currently, she is studying the roles of stigma and identity-related factors in psychological distress among people who stutter. She has been actively involved in support organizations for people who stutter and has worked as a speech-language pathologist at several summer camps for youth who stutter. She remains clinically engaged through supervision with graduate students and clients who stutter of all ages at the Charles Van Riper Language, Speech, and Hearing Clinic.  

Disclosures

Courtney Luckman

Financial: Courtney is an employee of and receives salary from speech IRL.

Non-financial: Courtney is chair of the junior board of Shared Voices Chicago.

Hope Gerlach

Financial: Dr. Gerlach received an honorarium for this talk. 

Non-financial: None

Special Needs

Contact [email protected] for any special needs requests.

Course Completion Requirements

This course is offered for 0.05 ASHA CEUs (Introductory level, Professional area).

Successful completion of the post-test (>80%) and completion of the course evaluation is required to earn ASHA CEUs. 

A purchased online course can be refunded by contacting [email protected]  within 30 days of purchase. The course materials must not have been viewed or downloaded. 

If you are not 100% satisfied with speech IRL’s continuing education services, please contact the course organizer at [email protected]  for a full refund.