The Blank Center CARE Model: An Anti-Ableist Approach to Treatment for Stuttering

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are exploring the various speech, language, psychosocial, and motor factors that contribute to stuttering in both monolingual and multilingual speakers. This study aims to better understand the experiences of people who stutter and to evaluate different treatment approaches, including interdisciplinary methods, telehealth, and specialized speech-language pathology training focused on fluency disorders. The study is led by the University of Texas at Austin and addresses the complex nature of stuttering, which affects over 3 million people in the United States and about 1% of the global population. Participants will engage in the Blank Center CARE Model, a behavioral treatment designed to help individuals who stutter communicate effectively, advocate for themselves, and maintain their quality of life without focusing on controlling stuttered speech. This model emphasizes communication competence, advocacy, resilience, and education. The study involves an 11-week period during which these components are assessed and practiced. During the study, participants will be evaluated for communication competence, advocacy skills, resilience, and education outcomes at 11 weeks. Researchers will collect data on speech and psychosocial factors to understand treatment impact. The study includes children aged 2 to 17 years and adults up to 85 years who stutter. There are no exclusion criteria for persons who stutter. Participants may be involved in telehealth sessions and clinical training tools tailored to fluency disorders, with ongoing monitoring of progress throughout the study.

Exploring the Nature, Assessment and Treatment of Stuttering