Speak Out February 2021 DIGITAL EDITION

PROFILE

what I say. I have been very lucky, in part due to the ASRC grants, to have been able to combine clinical work, lecturing and student education with research. This led to increased publications and invitations to present internationally: wonderful opportunities and experience. Overall I have been extremely proud of what we have achieved at La Trobe University, and the breadth of experience we have provided for students in this area of practice. I think each aspect of these roles has made me a better clinician. Q What are the things that early clinicians most need to know? I think early clinicians need to be confident in what they have been taught and they need to know that clinical experience is also an aspect of our evidence base. They should know that while research reports usually reflect a best-case scenario (in terms of straightforward clients), they can use their clinical judgements to sensibly adapt some aspects of treatments. For example, does it matter if someone learns Prolonged Speech, for example, using the Camperdown Program, intensive traditional treatment or more spaced delivery, if the decisions are based on what the client needs, wants and can manage? Sensible clinical decisions can be vital to client progress, and new clinicians should not feel they can do nothing helpful unless they are doing every aspect ‘by the book’. While that is best in most cases, it should not be set in stone and new clinicians should not be reticent to be flexible and problem-solve. I also think that early clinicians need to know how important they are in the lives of each and every client. For that reason, they need to understand the responsibility this brings (as well as the satisfaction). Q Sue, you have authored or co-authored many papers on stuttering. Could you briefly describe the one that you feel most proud of, and why that is the one you singled out? I think I am most proud of the student-delivered intensive treatment paper. That study has been replicated internationally and it demonstrated that well-supervised student clinicians could achieve fluency results as good as any published to date (Block et al, 2005). I hope that it put to bed some of the arguments about students being unable to get good results with clients who stutter. It is also noteworthy that the clients reported that they enjoyed working with the students! Q Now it's time to look into your crystal ball and tell us where you think the next 40 years of stuttering assessment and treatment is going to lead us? After a year of online delivery, it would be remiss to not allude to increasing reliance on telepractice service delivery.

I think that clients are more tech-savvy and are also interested in self-administered treatments. Advances in technology mean that we are seeing increased developments in Virtual Reality. This will enable us to enhance generalisation of fluency and hopefully decrease speech-related anxiety. With changes in service delivery and options, due to factors such as the NDIS, I hope that those who stutter can be ensured of consistency of treatment management as well as sufficiency of treatment. Block, S., Onslow, M., Packman, A., Gray, B. & Dacakis, G. (2005). Treatment of chronic stuttering: outcomes from a student training model. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders . 40, 455-466. Mr Vince Borg is a Speech Pathologist and Director at Box Hill Speech Pathology https://www.speech- therapy.com.au/. Ms Mala Ferdinando is a Speech Pathologist, Clinical Educator at La Trobe Communication Clinic, La Trobe University and Director at Speech Pathology for Schools. https://www.speech.edu. au/. Dr Brenda Carey is a Speech Pathologist, Clinical Educator at La Trobe Communication Clinic, La Trobe University, Honorary Associate at the Australian Stuttering Research Centre, The University of Technology, Director of a Stuttering Treatment Centre and the Convenor of the Victorian Stuttering Interest Group http://www. mystutteringspecialist.com/.

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Speak Out | February 2021