Edward S. Giordano
Ed Giordano is Past President and founder of the NSA Boston-North Chapter. He has been awarded the NSA Chapter Leader of the Year and Chapter of the Year. He was CoChair of the NSA Boston 2001 Conference and currently serves as NSA Northeast Regional Coordinator. Ed has presented to numerous SLP classes including Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston University, Emerson College and University of New Hampshire. He is an ATM-Bronze Toastmaster and Dale Carnegie graduate.
Open Yourself For Success
This is an interactive workshop dealing with (1) Acceptance - The Journey Begins Here,
(2) Staying Positive - Tools for the Journey and (3) Defining Success - Keep Your Eye on the Prize. This is a dynamic, positive and energetic workshop in which NSA members will discuss the benefits of acceptance in their lives, be given practical tools to become and stay positive and define what success means in their lives.
John Harrison
John Harrison is one of the earliest members of the NSA. He is a former Board member and Associate Director, and currently serves as editor of LettingGO, the NSA's newsletter. He is a freelance writer and lives in San Francisco. Unscrambling The Stuttering Hexagon
An in-depth look at the entire stuttering system. When a problem seems impossible to solve, it's often because you're solving the wrong problem. Through his 20-year involvement with the National Stuttering Association, John Harrison has sought a model of stuttering that is broad enough to explain stuttering's many confusing and conflicting characteristics as well as the circumstances that led to his own recovery. He now believes he has such a model. The Stuttering Hexagon is a paradigm that conceptualizes stuttering as a self-sustaining system with six major interactive components. Each of these components is noteworthy in the ways it influences the other parts.
Forget The Fear, Discover The Fun
You don't have to be fluent to be a charismatic speaker. This workshop is designed to show you it's possible to be terrific behind a podium-even though you may stutter!-and have lots of fun doing it. We'll shoot holes in many of the myths around what makes a good speaker. And we'll look at specific confidence-building techniques that will allow you to be at home and resourceful in front of an audience. It's practical knowledge that you'll be able to use the next day, whether you're fluent or not.
1 ½-Day Speaking Circles Program
(John is a Certified Speaking Circle Facilitator.)
This is the standard Speaking Circles program, but a more extended and intense version that also offers people an opportunity to view the first day's talks at home on Saturday night before coming and back on Sunday to complete the program.
People will have 7 to 8 opportunities to speak, and several different kinds of speaking opportunities will be explored. All talks are spontaneous, so there is nothing to prepare. The focus is on learning how to receive the support of the audience, how to connect, and how to "stand in the void" without losing that connection when nothing occurs to you.
Imagine having multiple opportunities to really get into the speaking experience. Imagine all that applause. And imagine 7 or 8 opportunities to receive positive feedback. It's an intense day and a half in which real change can take place. All talks will be videotaped, and each person will get to keep his/her personal tape.
Because of the multiple opportunities that each person has to be up in front of the group, the workshop is limited to just 15 people. Cost is $60 per person.
Lee Reeves
Dr. Lee Reeves is a veterinarian and is the founder of the Dallas Chapter of the National Stuttering Association in Dallas, Texas. He has been actively involved with support groups for persons who suffer from stuttering for over twenty-five years and now serves as the Executive Director of the NSA. Lee has been a frequent speaker on the subject of stuttering at meetings for Speech-Language Pathologists, local support groups, and various church and service organizations.
Stuttering: Issues and Answers
This is an informative, entertaining, and interactive workshop that deals with stuttering up close and personal. The workshop confronts directly issues about stuttering that stand in the way of successful living, personal growth, and happiness. Participants learn ways to become empowered to take control of their speech and their lives!
Stuttering: The road to Empowerment
This is an informative, entertaining, and interactive workshop that deals with stuttering up close and personal. The workshop confronts directly issues about stuttering that stand in the way of successful living, personal growth, and happiness. Participants learn ways to become empowered to take control of their speech and their lives!
Lee has been presenting workshops for NSA for several years. His workshops are not only fun and entertaining but also provocative and challenging as well. Lee's style and approach make these workshops a must for both seasoned NSAer's and first timers alike.
Russ Hicks
Russ Hicks is a retired computer systems technical consultant for Texas Instruments. He is the past president of the Dallas Chapter of the National Stuttering Association and the operator of the Stutt-L listserv. Russ is also a member of Toastmasters, where he has held a variety of offices and has won numerous speaking contests.
"Successful stuttering, it's time to live!"
Sure we stutter. Sure it’s hard and frustrating. But we’ve got happy, meaningful lives and wonderful people surrounding us as we continually struggle to live out lives to the fullest, stuttering and all. Come share your life with us in this workshop as we explore many POSITIVE ways to achieve real success in life - and play this stuttering card that we’ve been dealt. FACE UP! This highly interactive, FUN workshop will give you tools to brighten your life and those around you - BECAUSE you stutter! Life isn’t for whining, worrying and working. Life is for laughing, loving and living!
Mary Wood
Mary Wood, who lives in Dundas, Ontario, has been an inspiration to everyone who has heard her speak. Mary has presented workshops at conventions and conferences for both organizations. She is on the board of directors for CAPS, the Canadian Association For People Who Stutter and is a member of the NSA. Mary facilitates the self help group “Stuttering Connections” in Hamilton, Ontario. She is also a co-author of the book “Winning Women”.
I love me ... I love me not ... I love me ... I love me not ... I love me ... I love me not ...
The relationship we have with ourselves affects every relationship in our lives. The relationships we have with ourselves also affect our speech. Join Mary in this interactive workshop, as you will look at five ways to love yourself better, to improve the relationship you have with yourself so that your speech will be better. You need to Focus on the Positive, Have a Good Self-Image, Understand & Take Charge of Your Feelings (A Biggie!), Love Your Body and have Spirituality. Mary says, “Dr. Leonard Shaw, in his book “Love and Forgiveness,” says there are only two emotions in our lives - LOVE and FEAR. We will explore these two emotions in depth.”
Gary Rentschler, Ph.D.
Gary is Director of the Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. During his tenure at the University at Buffalo Speech, Language & Hearing Clinic, Gary helped to start the Buffalo Chapter of the National Stuttering Association (NSA) and in 1997 created Stutter Buddies, a newsletter for kids of all ages who stutter.
Stuttering: Taking a closer look in the mirror
How can something be so easy yet so hard to do? Why can people use fluency targets in therapy, but not when leave the clinic? Most conclude they just 'forgot' --- they intended to use them, then at that critical instant, they didn't. Therefore, they must have 'forgotten'. A study of this 'forgetful' phenomenon provides some new insights into this frustrating and aggravating dilemma and offers suggestions to help you become a 'seasoned pro' at using your targets when situational pressures rise.
John Wade, PhD
John joined the NSA in 1985 and was active in the Dallas chapter for several years, and later co-founded the State College PA chapter. He served on the NSA Board of Directors from 1996-1998, and was the head of the Nominations Committee and served on the Professional Relations Committee. John has presented several workshops on various topics at NSA National Conventions.
John is a psychologist at the University of Kansas counseling center, and is also involved in graduate training as an adjunct faculty member. He is the counseling center's Outreach Coordinator, and is frequently asked to speak on a variety of mental health issues.
Bridging The Gap Between The NSA And Our Everyday Lives
Wouldn't it be nice if we could bring the increased confidence and acceptance we feel at NSA events to our daily lives? This workshop is designed to address how to use the positive feelings we experience in the NSA environment as a springboard from which to feel better about ourselves and our speech on a daily basis. This workshop will cover methods for dealing with common obstacles to transference, and explore ways in which we can actively foster the "NSA experience."
Robert W. Quesal, PhD, CCC-SLP
Bob Quesal is a person who stutters and a professor at Western Illinois University. He teaches courses in fluency disorders, anatomy, speech and hearing science, and voice disorders. He has presented at regional, national, and international meetings, and was a keynote speaker at the 1998 NSA convention in Atlanta. His chapter entitled "Knowledge, Understanding, and Acceptance" was published in the Stuttering Foundation of America publication "Advice to Those Who Stutter." He has been listowner of the STUT-HLP listserv since June of 1993, and he served as newsletter editor for ASHA's Special Interest Division 4-Fluency & Fluency Disorders from 1997-2000. He is currently editor for NSA's newsletter CARE.
Your Vocal Mechanism As An "Instrument": Developing Flexibility As A Speaker
Understanding what we do when we talk helps us understand what we do when we stutter. Many people who stutter feel somewhat "constrained" in the way they talk. They may have adopted habits that actually increase the effort involved in speaking. This workshop will explore the parts of the body we use when we talk, and will explain speech breathing, producing voice, and making speech sounds. Audience members will have opportunities to explore changes that occur when they experiment with modifying their loudness, pitch, speaking rate, inflection, etc. Participants should leave with an increased appreciation for the complexity of speech, and a better understanding of how they talk and how they stutter.
The more we know about speech in general and our speech in particular, the more empowered we are to make changes in the way we talk. "Demystifying" speech and making it a tangible thing, something we can modify, and something that behaves in "lawful" ways can be a very important tool for people who struggle with their speech. After attending this workshop, attendees may be more willing to experiment with their speech and to take risks as speakers. This basic understanding is an important component of the therapy I provide to my clients.
Michael Sugarman
Michael Sugarman co-founded the National Stuttering Association in 1977. He has trained over 2500 disabled consumers on self-help, has written numerous articles on self-help and stuttering. Michael has authored a children’s story: The Adventures of Phil Carrot: The Forest of Discord; written a Self-Help Workbook for People Who Stutter; and developed a handbook for support group facilitators. He has been a therapist for oncology and HIV +/Aids clients, and has counseled individuals and groups on death and dying.
Stuttering: Behavior Change
This workshop will provide participants with both theoretical and practical ‘hands on’ information about change, including therapy as a process and relapse.
Carl W. Dell, Jr.
Carl Dell is a Ph.D. speech pathologist and a person who stutters. An NSA member since 1982 he teaches and directs the stuttering therapy programs at Eastern Illinois University. Carl has given many presentations to speech pathologists and the NSA.
Unraveling The Mystery:
Stuttering is not only embarrassing but confusing. There are many questions that puzzle us about the nature of stuttering. Dr. Dell will list many of these often asked questions and discuss possible explanations for them. as the picture of stuttering becomes clearer we will look objectively at how stuttering promotes negative emotion. After learning how these emotions are created we will participate in exercises designed to reduce their power over our lives. Different therapies will be demonstrated and discussed. Workshop participants should come away with a more detailed picture of what stuttering is and what they can do about it.
Edward S. (Ed) Giordano
Ed Giordano is Past President and founder of the NSA Boston-North Chapter. He has been awarded the NSA Chapter Leader of the Year and Chapter of the Year. He was CoChair of the NSA Boston 2001 Conference and currently serves as NSA Northeast Regional Coordinator. Ed has presented to numerous SLP classes including Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston University, Emerson College and University of New Hampshire. He is an ATM-Bronze Toastmaster and Dale Carnegie graduate.
Open Yourself For Success!
This is an interactive workshop dealing with:
- Acceptance - The Journey Begins Here
- Staying Positive - Tools for the Journey
- Defining Success - Keep Your Eye on the Prize
This is a dynamic, positive and energetic workshop in which NSA members will discuss the benefits of acceptance in their lives, be given practical tools to become and stay positive and define what success means in their lives. |
