Student Research on Stuttering

A Q&A with Andrea Snider - Spring 2011

Andrea Snider (right), a master's degree student in communication sciences and disorders and Graduate McNair Scholar at UCF, is engaged in research on stuttering under the guidance of Professor Martine Vanryckeghem. Here she discusses her interest in and research on stuttering, as well as her professional goals.

Question: How have you been involved in research on stuttering?
Answer: I have conducted research in the area of fluency disorders for over two years; however, my passion for learning more about stuttering began as a child. As a child I was often conscious about my speech, since my father is a person who stutters (PWS). I often thought that if I spent too much time listening to my dad speak, that I too would contract a stammer. Clearly, stuttering is not like viruses which can be spread from person to person; rather, it is a disorder of an unknown origin.

My first structured stuttering research investigation began during the end of my junior year in college as a McNair Scholar at West Virginia University. I knew I wanted to research in the area of fluency disorders; but, I didn’t know which research was left to be explored. I gained the idea of stuttering with regards to employment. Questions I wanted to explore included: 1. Are stutterers less likely to be hired by hypothetical employers due to their communication impairment? 2. Do hypothetical employers believe that stutterers are better suited for blue-collar jobs as opposed to white-collar?  3. What personality traits do hypothetical employees associate with a PWS? The idea for my research came from wondering if my father could obtain a white-color job in today’s world while having a fluency impairment. 

My research with Dr. Vanryckeghem [here at UCF] has included investigating test-retest reliability of the BigCAT Communication Attitude Test. The BigCAT is part of the Behavior Assessment Battery (BAB), which was developed by Dr. Vanryckeghem and her husband Gene J. Brutten, Ph.D., who is also a researcher in the area of fluency disorders. To assist Dr. Vanryckeghem, I rendered the BigCAT to participants from three different states during Christmas break. Each test was given twice to each participant “no less than 2 days and no more than 1 week apart” to investigate test-retest reliability of each subject’s responses. Examples of questions from the BigCAT include “1. There is something wrong with the way I speak” and “9. When I speak my words will come out easily.” A True/False recording scale was used instead of a Likert scale to render focused results. 

Current research I am conducting as a UCF Graduate McNair Scholar includes my project titled Perspective Medications to be Used for the Treatment of Stuttering: A McNair Research Investigation for the Usage of Antiepileptic Medications With Persons Who Stutter (PWS). Apart from my dad’s stuttering, he has also suffered with epilepsy as a child. He has worked for a pharmaceutical company called Mylan Pharmaceuticals in Morgantown, WV, for many years. After trialing numerous seizure medications prescribed by his physician, my father was finally put on a medicine that not only helped to control his seizure disorder, but it also significantly reduced his stuttering. Further research will need to be conducted with regards to the medication Tegretol, to see if it can help other stutterers. I speculate that it can help reduce disfluencies only for the neurogenic stutterer.

As a first-generation college student, I would like to thank the McNair Scholar’s Program for giving me the opportunity to attend college. Without [its] help, I would have never been able to pursue my passion for helping stutterers.  

Q: This year's Academy-Award-winning-movie, The Kings's Speech, was about a man who stuttered. Did you have an opportunity to see it?
A: I had the privilege to watch The King’s Speech with Dr. Vanryckeghem at the Regal Theatre. After the show, myself, along with Dr. Vanryckeghem, and members of the UCF National Stuttering Association (NSA) handed-out questionnaires regarding viewer’s perspectives of the movie.

Many of the techniques used in The King’s Speech are esoteric; modern speech-language pathologists never use the marbles in the mouth approach to help reduce a person’s stuttering. Examples of techniques we use include: cancellation, pull-out, preparatory set, smooth speech, delayed auditory feedback (DAF), frequency altered feedback (FAF), stuttering modification, desentization, and many others.

Q: What are your professional goals?
A: I anticipate graduating with my M.A. in Communication Sciences and Disorders and a [Graduate Certificate] in Medical Speech-Language Pathology during December 2012. However, I am hoping that the Communication Sciences and Disorder Department will let me walk a semester early, since I will be returning to Morgantown, West Virginia for my full-time externship at the Health South Rehabilitation Hospital.

As a future speech-language pathologist, I would like to gain more experience with working with stutterers. The reason I chose speech-pathology and audiology for my undergraduate major was because I wanted to help people like my father. My future research will include exploring the hereditary component to stuttering, because my father is not the only person in my family who stutters. Other relatives who stutter include a deceased great-uncle, and a first and third cousin. All of those with a fluency impairment in my family are males, which sums up the ratio of stuttering quite well. For every 3-4 males who stutter, there is approximately one female. In the future I would like to open a facility in Morgantown, WV, that specializes in the treatment of fluency disorders.