OXFORD, Miss. – Helping people who stutter is the focus of this year’s installment of the Ole Miss Fall Institute and a related campuswide lecture by a respected researcher and clinician in the field.
Patricia Zebrowski, former director of the Stuttering Research Lab at the University of Iowa and professor emeritus in the university’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, will address best practices for clinicians working with older adolescents who stutter in “Therapy with Teenagers Who Stutter: Facilitating Readiness for Change and the Plan to Accomplish It,” the keynote for the Ole Miss Fall Institute. The institute runs Thursday and Friday (Oct. 11-12) at The Inn at Ole Miss.
“Dr. Zebrowski is an American Speech-Language-Hearing Association fellow and a board-recognized fluency specialist,” said Vishakha Rawool, chair and professor of communication sciences and disorders, or CSD. “She is primarily interested in the onset and development of stuttering in childhood and stuttering intervention.
“She also serves as the co-director of the University of Iowa Summer Program to Educate Adolescents and Kids Who Stutter, an intensive residential therapy program for teenagers who stutter.”
More than 70 million people worldwide stutter, according to the Stuttering Foundation. Approximately 5 percent of all children go through a period of stuttering that lasts six months or more. Three-quarters of those will recover by late childhood, leaving about 1 percent with a long-term problem.
Zebrowski received her master’s and doctoral degrees in speech pathology at Syracuse University. Her text, “Manual for Stuttering Intervention,” as well as several book chapters and journal articles, has helped increase knowledge and therapeutic intervention for stuttering.
The CSD department and the university’s chapter of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association host the Fall Institute each year to offer educators and speech-language pathology practitioners an opportunity earn continuing education units and learn more about discoveries in their field. This student-planned event gives CSD students an opportunity to develop professional and organizational leadership skills under the mentorship of Brad Crowe, co-director of the UM Speech and Hearing Clinic and clinical instructor.
Online registration for the Ole Miss Fall Institute is encouraged, as seating will be limited. The cost of the two-day event is $275 for on-site registration. A link to the secure payment site is available at http://csd.olemiss.edu/ under the “Fall Institute” tab.
In conjunction with the institute, the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association chapter will host a 5-K run benefitting the Sarah Wheat Voice Lab, a facility used for evaluation, treatment and rehabilitation of individuals with voice disorders. It is named after an Ole Miss CSD graduate student who died in 2012.
The run is set for 6 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 11), starting in front of the Lyceum. Registration is $25 for timed runners and $15 for nontimed runners or walkers. To register, visit https://racesonline.com/events/annual-nsslha-5k.
Anyone who wishes to make a donation in lieu of race participation should can send a check payable to the Sarah Wheat Voice Laboratory Fund to 100 George Hall, 325 Rebel Drive, University, MS 38677.
Besides her role as keynote speaker for the annual continuing education conference, Zebrowski will serve as the School of Applied Sciences’ first visiting research scholar for the 2018-19 school year.
The school began its Visiting Research Scholars Forum last year to connect meritorious research scholars from across the country with members of its own faculty.
“Dr. Zebrowski aligns well with the applied science focus on the importance of having evidenced-based research direct clinical practice protocols,” said Teresa Carithers, the school’s interim dean. “We are lucky to have her for both our Fall Institute and Visiting Research Scholars Forum.”
Zebrowski will present “Readiness to Change in Therapy for Stuttering” in a meritorious lectureship for the campuswide community at 4 p.m. Wednesday (Oct. 10) in Bryant Hall, Room 209. Anyone interested in attending the free lecture should visit http://www.sas.olemiss.edu/scholarforum to register.
For more information about the Ole Miss Fall institute, email olemissfallinstitute@gmail.com or visit http://www.csd.olemiss.edu/fallinstitute.
For more information about the Visiting Research Scholars Forum, visit http://www.sas.olemiss.edu/scholarforum.