Disorders Physiology

1Adapted from a lecture delivered to faculty, students, self-help representatives, and guests at Southwestern University “Neofit Rilski ” in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria on May 26, 2004 on the occasion of the author receiving an honorary doctorate (Doctor Honoris Causa) from the University. The lecture and follow-up questions were translated orally into Bulgarian by Dr. Dobrinka Georgieva, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Chairperson of the Department of Logopedics. The topic was of particular interest to this audience, given the desire of Bulgaria, a former Soviet Bloc country, to define logopedics (i.e., speech-language pathology) as a discipline separate from special education. This paper summarizes some thoughts about the development of channels, methods, and infrastructure for helping people who stutter around the world. As most people visiting this on-line conference are aware, there are countries where it is very common for stutterers to receive therapy from trained professionals. There are also countries where very little if any professional help is available. Obviously, there are countries between these two extremes where there are growing and changing treatment infrastructures for those who stutter. The following analysis could be viewed from an historical perspective in the modern treatment of stuttering, as in North America (e.g, Bloodstein, 1995; St. Louis, 2003), but is also about what is or could be happening in various countries around the world today. Although these ideas pertain to stuttering, they are relevant to any of the speech, language, or hearing disorders. I have constructed a figure that provides an overview of my thoughts about development. It will be described one component at a time