Academic and clinical education in fluency disorders: an update

This paper presents a survey of the academic and clinical education in fluency disorders provided by American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)-accredited training programs. Respondents were 159 programs (out of 256, return rate = 67.4%) that completed a questionnaire seeking information about the courses and clinical experiences they require, the expertise of their faculty and supervisors, changes following the 1993 modification of training requirements for the ASHA certificate of clinical competence (CCC), and preliminary plans for changes in preparation for the 2005 standards. Results, which supplement findings from an earlier survey distributed in 1997 (Yaruss, 1999), indicated that nearly one-quarter of programs allow students to graduate without coursework in fluency disorders, and nearly two-thirds allow students to graduate without clinical practicum experiences. Findings suggest a trend toward fewer required classes taught by less experienced faculty, fewer clinical hours guided by less experienced supervisors, and a greater likelihood that students will graduate without any academic or clinical education in fluency disorders. Given the repeated finding that many speech-language pathologists are uncomfortable working with people who stutter, as well as ASHA's apparent de-emphasis of fluency disorders within the increasing scope of practice in the field of speech-language pathology, these results are a cause for concern about the future of fluency disorders.

The reader will learn about (1) the coursework and clinical practicum experiences that are currently required for students in ASHA-accredited training programs; (2) trends indicating a reduction in training requirements for fluency disorders; and (3) ways of improving these requirements.