UC hosts camp for children, teens who stutter

This is the first year that Camp Dream. Speak. Live. has been hosted in Cincinnati. The camp, which was developed a decade ago at the University of Texas at Austin, is open to children between the ages of 4 and 17.

“Really what stuttering is is just a different way of communicating,” said Katie Winters, PhD, an assistant professor in UC’s College of Allied Health Sciences. “It's a different way of talking where the way in which the brain communicates with the articulators — so the lips, the tongue, the parts of our body that produce speech sounds — is different for folks who stutter compared to folks who don't stutter.”

While many people associate stuttering with nervousness, it's actually a neurophysiological communication disability that affects approximately 3 million people in the United States.

“When we're listening to people who stutter, we hear them repeat sounds, prolong sounds or have what's called blocks,” Winters said. “But for the speaker themselves, what they often experience is this loss of control during speech.”

Each day at the camp, Winters and her staff, which includes UC students, model effective communication and ways to navigate situations with peers and adults. Children and teens participate in these direct-teach activities, engage with members of the community who support the intervention and reflect on their experiences throughout the program.

“When we ask people who stutter to slow down or think about what they want to say, it can be really frustrating because they do know what they want to say,” Winters said. “What they're really asking for is more time in which to say it.”

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Featured image at top: DJ Juan Cortez and UC students demonstrate effective communicate strategies to children and teens who stutter at Camp Dream. Speak. Live. in Cincinnati. Photo/Fox 19