Description
A Neurodiversity Paradigm Approach to Stuttering Therapy
What if unapologetically stuttering was the key to authentic, effective communication?
This 2-hour professional development course challenges traditional, ableist fluency-focused stuttering therapy and centers the neurodiversity paradigm. Join Dr. Geoffrey Coalson as he introduces the evidence-based CARE Model Treatment, a strengths-based, holistic framework prioritizing Communication, Advocacy, Resiliency, and Education over fluency-focused outcomes. Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP) and other therapists will learn how to integrate client-led care that empowers individuals to effectively communicate and stutter confidently without shame.
If you work with individuals who stutter, this course offers essential training to integrate strength-based, neurodiversity-affirming principles into your stuttering therapy.
Master the CARE Model Treatment for Stuttering
Grounded in current research, this course reframes stuttering as a natural form of neurodivergence rather than a deficit to be fixed. Therapists will learn to identify common stereotypes about stuttering, develop strengths-based assessment and treatment plans, and empower individuals to communicate effectively and confidently without pressure to hide or minimize their stutter.
Participants will move away from fluency-focused or seemingly ableist treatments (i.e., any approach that attempts to correct, cure, or fix a disabling condition) for stuttering, and leave equipped to integrate the CARE Model into stuttering therapy, supporting clients’ quality of life and communication competence—while explicitly excluding fluency goals.
► Featuring: Dr. Geoffrey Coalson, PhD, CCC-SLP
► Enrollees have on-demand access to this course for 180 days from enrollment.
► 2 hours of Professional Development credit
► Audience: This online training is designed for speech-language pathologists, therapists, and educators seeking evidence-based alternatives to traditional stuttering treatment. Participants can earn continuing education credits while developing skills aligned with neurodiversity-affirming practice.
🔓🔓🔓 (Therapy Neurodiversity Collective Members, this short course is included in your membership!)
✨ Included:
☑ Slide handout
☑ Course materials
☑ Certificate of Attendance for 2 hours of professional development
Stuttering Therapy | Neurodiversity Paradigm Professional Development Course Information
The CARE Model (Communication, Advocacy, Resiliency, Education) offers a research-backed framework to improve communication outcomes without targeting fluency. This approach promotes authentic, effective self-expression.
Explore
✅ The origin of the stuttering stereotype
✅ Camouflaging behaviors and stuttering
✅ The mixed messaging of stuttering therapy
✅ Quality of life and stuttering, from preschool to adulthood
✅ Non-ableist clinical alternatives for stuttering
After this course, therapists will be able to:
- Identify stereotypes related to stuttering, and how it originates, both inside and outside the therapy setting.
- Summarize rationale for shifting away from the paradigm of fluency as a meaningful measure to a strengths-based approach to assessment and treatment.
- Explain key components of the CARE Model (Communication, Advocacy, Resiliency, and Education) and their significance in empowering those who stutter.
- Formulate functional outcomes and related short-term goals supporting authentic, empowered communication.
- Summarize research showing improved quality of life without reducing stuttering.
Dr. Geoffrey Coalson, PhD, CCC-SLP is a stutterer, researcher, parent of child who stutters, clinician, professor – and is making a profound impact in the field of stuttering research and treatment. His work at the Arthur M. Blank Center Stuttering Education and Research, founded by Dr. Courtney Byrd, focuses on the CARE Model Treatment which shifts entirely away from fluency-focused approaches and instead prioritizes whole-person CARE (Communication, Advocacy, Resiliency, and Education). This model and its supporting research challenges traditional, ableist perspectives on stuttering treatment and aims to empower individuals to stutter openly. Their research demonstrates significant improvements in communication skills, advocacy, resilience, and quality of life among participants following treatment and, critically, with no changes in stuttering behaviors. This reinforces the idea that effective communication is independent of fluency – a perspective that is reshaping how stuttering is treated.
Dr. Coalson is dedicated to authorizing a new future for children who stutter—one where their speech does not dictate their choices. Dr. Coalson proudly endorses treatment that targets what many children who stutter believe they can never fully attain: to speak, to dream, and to live unapologetically.
