By Julie Raynor, Kristin Chmela | Project Leaders
In August 2014, we will welcome more than 100 individuals to Big Blue Lake in Muskegon County, Michigan for our 4th session of Camp Shout Out. Participants, including young people who stutter ages 8-18, speech-language pathologists and graduate students, volunteers, and recognized fluency specialists come together for a week for learning, fun, and tons of communication.
Research shows that speech-language pathologists are less trained, less experienced and less confident when working with those who stutter compared to other disorders they treat.
Your contributions are helping us provide both graduate students and professionals who desire to give their very best when working with school-age youth who stutter a state-of-the-art training opportunity incorporating evidence based learning with guided hands-on support from experts in the field.
The best way we can tell you just how important your support is, is to share the summary written by one of the speech-language pathologists who attended Camp Shout Out last summer: “…I did not receive adequate training in stuttering as a graduate student, and I feel so much more at ease now. I am so eager to go back to work and continue helping other children who stutter. Involving the parents of campers on the first and last day of camp was eye opening. They needed education and support, too! I was so afraid of my inadequacy in helping my camper that I cried the first day of training. Learning from experts in the field for two days prior to camper arrival was beneficial. During the week, one of the trainers sat by my side as I helped a camper with a severe problem, and supported me as I spoke with the parents when they came on the last day. I have been in our field for many years, and have never experienced a training workshop like this one. I never attended camp as a child, and I have never stuttered. After being in the company of almost forty children who stutter and so many passionate, dedicated adults, I will never be the same as a speech therapist, and as a person.".
We hope you will continue with us on this journey as together, we help change the world for children who stutter, and help children who stutter change the world!
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