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7851 Enon Drive | Roanoke, Virginia 24019 | Tel 540.265.5650 | Fax 540.265.0386
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Deanna Morton
Phone: (516) 829-5501
Cell: (516) 298-4005 Fax: (516) 829-1008
Unique, physically-based therapy program has helped thousands to overcome
stuttering – including Annie Glenn, wife of Senator John Glenn and John Stossel,
ABC TV 20/20 co-anchor
For almost three million people in the United States, true freedom of speech is simply not
an option. Involuntarily repeating sounds and words, struggling to start speech,
prolonging sounds and gasping for breath are all a part of a stutterer’s every day life.
Stuttering is a mysterious problem that occurs only in humans. Stutterers are often
mistaken for being less intelligent, less capable or less friendly than they are, because
speech is difficult for them. To add to the frustration, they may have experienced years
and years of ineffective speech therapy. Stutterers are frequently resigned to lives of
pain, suffering and humiliation—just because they have trouble talking.
However, there is effective treatment available for stutterers. For over thirty years, the
staff of Hollins Communications Research Institute (HCRI) in Roanoke, Virginia has
pioneered in the development of physically-based stuttering therapies. HCRI has treated
more than 4800 stutterers of all levels of severity -- from very mild to extremely severe
and from 6 years to 72 years of age. Among those who have sought help at HCRI are
Annie Glenn, wife of U.S. Senator John Glenn, who was very uncomfortable in public
speaking situations; and ABC TV 20/20 co-anchor John Stossel whose speech problem
interfered with his career. These HCRI graduates, and many others, are featured on
HCRI’s website, www.stuttering.org.
“The Institute offers a unique and practical therapy that emphasizes precise motor skills
training and balanced attention to the cognitive and emotional aspects of stuttering,” says
Ronald Webster, Ph.D., founder and director, HCRI. “This physically oriented therapy,
designated as The Hollins Fluency System™, provides treatment within a fixed time
frame, at a fixed cost, and with a known probability of a positive outcome.”
HCRI’s intensive 19-day program uses specialized procedures for teaching specific
fluency skills and their transfer to everyday life. Treatment is enhanced by a computer
system designed at HCRI specifically for use in improving the quality of therapy. The
physical measurement of fluency targets by the computer and the immediate, accurate
feedback presented to program participants adds to the quality of fluency skill learning.
The systematic application of laboratory-derived principles of learning, along with the
constant improvement of physical target definitions and training sequences, provides
clients with fluent speech that holds up under the conditions of daily life.
For therapy graduates, HCRI has just made available FluencyNet™, an internet
home/office practice system that provides immediate, accurate measurement of ongoing
fluency target use and plots moment-by-moment results for easy interpretation.
FluencyNet is just like having a clinician immediately available for guidance. For the
first time, with FluencyNet, it is possible to deliver practical speech training anywhere in
the world via the internet.
At the present time, this advanced stuttering therapy system is available only at HCRI in
Roanoke, Virginia. HCRI alumni include individuals from all 50 of the United States and
23 foreign countries. Approximately 90% of those who have graduated from the program
have attained normal levels of fluency. Follow-up studies one and two-years posttherapy showed that 75% retained fluency in the normal range.
About HCRI: Hollins Communications Research Institute (HCRI) was founded in 1972
as a non-profit center dedicated to the analysis and treatment of stuttering. HCRI’s
founder and director, Ronald L. Webster, Ph.D., is a nationally and internationally
recognized pioneer in the development of behaviorally oriented stuttering therapy.
HCRI’s staff consists of full-time clinicians, researchers and support personnel who
specialize in the treatment of stuttering and in research on stuttering. HCRI’s research
and treatment programs for stuttering have been featured on many television programs
including: Good Morning America, The Today Show, 20/20, Nightline and How’d They
Do That? In addition, there have been numerous articles about the program in
publications such as: The New York Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Town &
Country, Sports Illustrated, People, Newsweek and Ladies Home Journal.
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6/12/03
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7851 Enon Drive | Roanoke, Virginia 24019 | Tel 540.265.5650 | Fax 540.265.0386
Hollins Therapy Results
A Documented Record of Success
Since the early 1970's research at HCRI has indicated that most people who stutter could be
"retaught" to speak fluently and that stuttering happens in your muscles, not your mind. It is this
continuing research that has led to the development of one of the world's leading stuttering
treatments, The Hollins Fluency System™, with patented computer hardware and custom
software specifically designed to teach fluent speech to persons who stutter. Ninety percent of
participants who complete the HCRI program achieve fluent speech.
Along with psychologists, speech pathologists and professional support personnel that staff
HCRI, therapy is made better with today's computers. HCRI’s computers can measure speech in
real time and can provide immediate and accurate feedback to clients. Long term follow-ups with
clients continue to facilitate advances within the therapy system.
Facts about the program:
•
More than 4,800 people have completed the HCRI therapy program.
•
The program has been used in 14 different languages, with individuals from 23 foreign
countries.
•
Approximately 90% of those treated at HCRI have attained normal levels of fluency by
the end of the 19-day program.
•
Follow-up studies, verified by independent sources, show that 75% retain normal fluency
and normal reactions to everyday speaking situations two years after completion of
therapy.
•
The most significant statistic comes from the program alumni. In a recent survey, 98% of
those who had completed the program at HCRI said they would recommend it to others
who stutter.
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7851 Enon Drive | Roanoke, Virginia 24019 | Tel 540.265.5650 | Fax 540.265.0386
Stuttering Fact Sheet
What is stuttering?
Stuttering consists of repetitions or prolongations of sounds, syllables, or words, or frequent,
unusual hesitations and pauses that disrupt the flow of speech. These events occur when speech
muscle movements become distorted due to excessively forceful patterns of activation. The
severity of the problem varies from situation to situation and is most severe when there is special
pressure to communicate, as for example, during a job interview. Moderate to severe cases often
include fearful anticipation of stuttering with avoidance of particular sounds, words or situations
in which stuttering is expected. In addition, there may be eye blinks, tremors of the lip or jaw, or
jerking of the head. Stuttering often limits occupational choice and job advancement and can
severely restrict an individual’s social interactions.
•
Ninety percent of stuttering occurs on the initial syllable of the utterance. Long words
and words beginning with consonants are more likely to be stuttered.
•
In severe stuttering, more than 20% of words are stuttered and individual speech blocks
last over two to three seconds. In some stutterers speech blocks can be more than 45
seconds in duration.
•
The prevalence of stuttering is estimated to be about 1% in any large population and the
incidence of stuttering is estimated at about 4% in young children.
What causes stuttering?
• Stuttering appears to have a physical basis; however, no specific causal factors have been
identified.
•
Stuttering begins in early childhood, usually between 2 and 5 years, with 90% beginning
before the age of 7.
•
About two thirds of children who begin to stutter will “outgrow” the problem by about
the age of 12.
•
Stuttering occurs four times more often in males than in females.
•
Stuttering tends to run in families. Some of the more sophisticated genetic models fit the
observed family patterns. However, at the present time no relationships have been found
between genes and stuttering in the general population of stutterers.
Famous people who stutter and have become successful in careers that require public
speaking include Winston Churchill, actress Marilyn Monroe, actors James Earl Jones, Bruce
Willis and Jimmy Stewart, and singers Carly Simon and Mel Tillis, to name only a few.
________________________________________________________________________
7851 Enon Drive | Roanoke, Virginia 24019 | Tel 540.265.5650 | Fax 540.265.0386
Media Contact:
Deanna Morton
Phone: (516) 829-5501
Cell: (516) 298-4005 Fax: (516) 829-1008
HCRI Video Demonstration Disc
HCRI’s video demonstration CD is available to the media upon request and features clips
of the following:
1) AnnieGlenn
Annie Glenn and her husband, Astronaut and Senator John Glenn, comment on her
stuttering problem and also discuss how the quality of their lives changed for the better
after Annie completed the Hollins stuttering therapy program. Annie was the keynote
speaker at the 1998 dedication of the new HCRI building. John introduced Annie with
these words, “She is the wind beneath my wings.”
2) Stossel Co-Anchor of 20/20
John Stossel’s stuttering was in the mild to moderate range. It was sufficient to keep him,
as a young, aspiring television reporter, from conducting on-air interviews. After
completing the Hollins stuttering therapy program, his career trajectory improved and
soon he became a reporter with ABC’s 20/20 program. He was recently promoted and
now serves as co-anchor of 20/20 with Barbara Walters.
3) Results
Pre-therapy and post-therapy videos demonstrate the impressive contrast between
stuttering and the new, fluent speech that results from controlling the muscle forces used
in speech production. The Hollins stuttering therapy program is effective with 90% of
the cases vs. effectiveness of about 25% for traditional therapies. In order: Ryan (age
30), Matt (age 20); and, Keith (age 28).
4) Follow up
A vital question that should be asked of any therapy is, “Do the effects last over time?” The
Hollins stuttering therapy program has long-lasting results for the majority of its cases. It is
impressive to listen to what people say who have been out of the Hollins therapy for many
years—even when they participated in the earlier, more primitive versions of the Hollins
program. In order of time since therapy and with pre-therapy severity level noted in
parentheses: Graham at 10 months (severe), Gary at 5 years (variable-mild to severe), Gina at
7 years (severe), Debby at 17 years (severe), Alan at 23 years (moderate), Sander at 25 years
(severe); and, Michael at 29 years (moderately severe ).
5) Dr.Andy
Excerpts from an emergency room M.D.’s experiences with stuttering and following
completion of the Hollins therapy program.
6) FluencyNet
FluencyNet has competed final beta testing and is scheduled for release to HCRI alumni
on July 12, 2003 at the HCRI 30th Annual Reunion. This internet based fluency skills
practice system provides accurate, objective feedback to users regarding the adequacy of
their control of muscle force levels used in speech production. Occasional use of
FluencyNet will help program graduates stabilize long term use of fluency skills. A more
general set of remote assistance tools will be provided to stutterers and speech clinicians
in the Fall 2003. The intention is to make these tools available on a global basis.