Office Hours

Office Hours: The Professor is In

The following university professors agreed to serve as a panel to answer appropriately-posed questions about stuttering. This was especially designed as an good opportunity for parents of children who stutter, and for children and teens who stutter, and for adults who stutter to ask questions of several highly qualified specialists in the area of stuttering.

Stephen B. Hood, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is Professor and Chairperson of Speech Pathology and Audiology, and Director of the Clinic, at the University of South Alabama. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Steve has published in JSLHR, JFD, J.Comm.DIS and LSHSS as well as published several book chapters. He has edited four publications for the Stuttering Foundation of American. Among his many conference and convention presentations are several for the National Stuttering Association, of which he has been a member since 1978. He was recipient of the NSA award as Outstanding SLP of the Year 2000.
Deborah Kully, M.S, SLP(C), CCC-SLP, Fluency Specialist, ASHA SID 4, is co-founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Stuttering Treatment and Research (ISTAR) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Over the past 21 years she has worked with more than 1000 people who stutter, trained many clinicians, published several articles and given numerous presentations in North America and abroad.
Judith Kuster, M.S., CCC-SLP, has an M.S. in speech-language pathology and M.S. in counseling. She is an associate professor in Communication Disorders at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She is the webmaster for Net Connections for Communication Disorders and Sciences and the Stuttering Home Page as well as the coordinator of this online conference. She holds Specialty Certification through ASHA SID-4.
Bob Quesal, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is a professor at Western Illinois University, where he serves as program director. He teaches courses in fluency disorders, anatomy, and speech and hearing science. He received the Certificate of Specialty Recognition in Fluency Disorders in May of 2000. He has presented papers at regional, national, and international meetings. He has been listowner of the STUT-HLP listserv since June of 1993.
Nan Bernstein Ratner, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, is Professor and Chairman, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland at College Park. She holds degrees in Child Development, Speech-Language Pathology and Applied Psycholinguistics. Dr. Ratner is the editor of six volumes, and the author of more than 30 articles and 20 chapters addressing stuttering and language acquisition in children. She currently serves as Co-editor of Seminars in Speech and Language, Associate Editor of the Journal of Fluency Disorders and The American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, and is Coordinator of the Steering Committee for ASHA's Special Interest Division #4 (Fluency and Fluency Disorders).
Kenneth O. St. Louis, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, (West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia), co-founder of the International Fluency Association, has carried out research in the areas of stuttering and cluttering for 25 years. He has actively collaborated with researchers, including investigators from other countries, on several large projects, e.g., a special edition of the Journal of Fluency Disorders on cluttering, is an associate editor for the Journal of Fluency Disorders, and has served on several key ASHA committees and task forces relating to specialty recognition and terminology in fluency disorders.
Woody Starkweather, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, received his Ph.D. in 1970 from Southern Illinois University. He is the author of over 50 articles and monographs and eight books on stuttering. His most recent book, Stuttering, with Janet Givens, was the first Speech Pathology book ever to make the "Best Academic Books of the Year" list. He was recipient of the National Stuttering Association's "Clinician of the Year" award in 1999. Since retiring from teaching at Temple Univerisity, Woody, along with Janet, devote their energies to the Birch Tree Foundation. One of the specific charges in the Birch Tree mission statement is to help stutterers deal with the emotional side of stuttering. Workshops are conducted for stutterers and training workshops are provided for SLP's who want to learn more about this important part of the disorder.
Dale F. Williams, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is an associate professor of Communication Disorders at Florida Atlantic University, where he serves as Director of the Fluency Clinic. He is also a consultant with Language Learning Intervention and Professional Speech Services, Inc. A person who stutters, Dr. Williams co-founded the Boca Raton chapter of the National Stuttering Association. Recent honors include Specialty Recognition by ASHA SID4
J. Scott Yaruss, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh and Co-director of the Stuttering Center of Western Pennsylvania. Yaruss's research focuses on the development of stuttering in children, including analysis of linguistic and motoric factors that affect children's fluency. Yaruss also studies the evaluation of treatment outcomes for adolescents, and adults who stutter.