Stutterology

Ezra sits down with Karli Marx (aka E) for a candid conversation about their journey growing up with a stutter and discovering their queerness, and navigating both experiences feeling unseen even eventually within LGBTQ or stuttering communities. They dive into the formation of Karli, Balitmore's stuttering drag performer, hosting their own shows, and how these experiences bleed into building conf...

What are the challenges and importance of implementing neurodiversity affirming therapy in school-based settings? Join host Ezra and guest Matt Maxion, a speech therapist who stutters, as they discuss the shift from fluency-focused goals to empowering individuals who stutter to communicate confidently. The two address misconceptions, share personal experiences, and advocate for a more inclusive th...

What happens when you go from never talking about your stutter to being one of the leading voices educating people on acceptance in the span of just a few short years? Is it possible to lose a part of your voice in the process of finding your voice? Ezra sits down with James Hayden, author of Dear World, I Stutter , and huge Survivor fan. After meeting other people who stutter for the first time i...

The definition of stuttering has changed constantly over the years - and the connotations of the definition feel different between people who stutter and those who don't. So what does it actually mean to stutter? Is graduate school always giving up and coming speech therapists an accurate depiction? Host Ezra Horak, stutterer, and guest Nicole Kulmaczewski, CCC-SLP, push back against tradition...

Ezra interviews Lara Gabrielle about Marion Davies, an actress who was one of the few to make the transition from silent films to "talkies"... oh, and she stuttered. Marion Davies (1897-1961), an American actress, screenwriter, producer, and philanthropist was a wonder that many people were captured by. This is impressive by any feat, but even moreso as a woman born in the 1890s. So why...

The journalist response to former President Donald Trump mocking the disability of President Joe Biden is disheartening. This isn't just an exhaustion of Trump - this is a reflection of a society that doesn't think mocking a stutter is "that bad". The only outcry has come from people who stutter. The only news articles out as of this moment are about Biden "didn't stutte...

Second part of a 2-part episode, Ezra is joined again by guests Nicole (CCC-SLP) and Jenny (PWS) to wrap up their discussion of Wendell Johnson and Mary Tudor's "Monster Study" of 1939, and how it relates to 2023 speech therapy practices. Is today's speech therapy for stuttering doing what this "monstrous" study did... with a pretty bow on it? The three discuss comments from Mary Tudor in 1939, an...

In this two-part special of "Stutterology," we take a deep dive into the infamous unpublished 1939 experiment at Univesity of Iowa by Wendell Johnson and his graduate student, Mary Tudor, which has been dubbed the "Monster Study." Join our host Ezra, a person who stutters, and two key guests, including a Speech Language Pathologist as we unravel never-before-discussed insights...

Guest Nina Reeves shares her insights and experiences working with children who stutter and offers valuable advice for parents seeking to support their child's communication journey. Her and our host discuss the importance of creating a safe and accepting environment, understanding the child's perspective, and the need to address thoughts and feelings about stuttering. Together, they explo...

Steff Lebsack (she/her), CCC-SLP based in Colorado and licensed in several states, dives into the challenges that can pop up in traditional speech therapy, especially in school settings.  The conversation is diverse - Ezra and Steff discuss challenging traditional speech therapy approaches, the use of speaking strategies when working with kids who stutter, the need for mentorship and support for s...

The full picture of stuttering: what is the "stuttering iceberg" and what makes a person who stutters... someone who stutters? We go beyond the obvious here and talk about Joseph Sheehan's take, Courtney Margulis’s example of how this plays out with SLPs, my own depressing blog post from 2009, Joe Biden's viral tiktok audio, and Nina G's reframing of the iceberg. FOOTNOTES: 1...

The only thing you can actually know about people who stutter is that we stutter. The personality types and interests of PWS very as much as any other group of people. And while we may know that mentally, media representation only shows stuttering as a nervous habit. Many have been told to “play to their strengths” with the assumption being that public speaking, stage presence, and effective commu...

So your child is stuttering - now what? Maybe you've been having people tell you about ways to make stuttering disappear, or you're just so overwhelmed by information overload that you don't know where to begin. Maybe you have read every book or article you can get your hands on, but you're still looking for something... else. What if the goal of speech therapy wasn't about making a stutter go awa...