Contemporary clinical conversations about stuttering: Neurodiversity and ableism

Purpose

To discuss issues about neurodiversity and ableism, and how they pertain to clinical management of stuttering, with particular reference to early childhood stuttering.

Methods

During a webinar this year, the issue emerged of how concepts of neurodiversity and ableism apply to early childhood stuttering during the pre-school years. It became apparent that this topic elicited disparate views and would be of particular interest to students of speech-language pathology. Consequently, the leaders of that webinar continued the conversation by written dialogue for the purpose of placing it on record.

Results

The discussants reached agreement on many points, but there was some diversity of viewpoint about how neurodiversity and ableism should apply to clinical practice with children who have recently begun to stutter.