IFA Newsletter Dec 2014 - International Fluency Association

Volume 2, Issue 1
The Newsletter of
Fall 2014
International Fluency Association
The Newsletter
The International
Fluency
Association is a
not-for-profit,
international,
interdisciplinary
organization
devoted to the
understanding
and management
of fluency
disorders, and to
the improvement
in the quality of
life for persons
with fluency
disorders.
Hello and thank you for
reading this edition of
The International Fluency
Association’s Newsletter.
I am taking over for Joe
Donaher, and excited to
be the editor of the
newsletter.
The purpose of this
newsletter is to increase
communication amongst
the membership of the
IFA and explore
important issues to those
of us interested in fluency
disorders.
The content of the
newsletter should reflect
the thoughts and
interests of IFA
membership. The IFA
does not control or
endorse the
information information
presented. Members are
invited to submit original
work related to:
-
Inspirational stories
Questions for other
members
- Commentaries
regarding topics of
interest
- Pictures from
conferences or
meetings.
The newsletter will also
present information from
the IFA board and others
related to topics of interest.
From the President
What follows is a
shortened version of
David Shapiro’s letter to
the Journal of Fluency
Disorders. This is his final
letter at IFA president.
http://www.theifa.org
Serving as the IFA
President is like riding a
bike – learning how to
ride at the beginning and
knowing how to get off
the bicycle at the end are
probably equally
Please consider submitting
your work to the IFA
newsletter.
Rodney Gabel, Ph.D.
[email protected]
David Shapiro
challenging. The ride,
however, is quite
comfortable, rewarding, and
fun. My experience with
writing a book is similar. The
beginning and the end are
the hardest parts; the middle
just seems to flow and fall
into place. Anyway, serving
as your IFA President has
been a labor of love, thanks
to an able Board of Directors.
I offer my personal thanks
below (i.e., note that my
expression of thanks is
extended to the members
of all Standing
Committees), deliberately
including individual email
addresses for your ease of
access. That transparency
and regular international
communication have been
essential to been essential
to the renewal and
advancement of IFA as a
global organization.
(continued on page 3)
Page 2
From the President Elect- Elaine Kelman
Name the
Newsletter
We need your help in
collecting names for this
new newsletter. It is time to
get creative and come up
with a better name than
“The Newsletter of the
International Fluency
Association.” Send your
suggestion for a newsletter
name to
[email protected]
As I take over the
presidency of the IFA, I am
truly grateful to David and
many others for creating
such a wonderful legacy. It
will be my privilege to nurture
and develop this over the
next three years. I am very
excited about working with
the existing and newlyelected members of the
Executive Board (Nan
Bernstein Ratner, President
Elect; Kurt Eggars,
Secretary; Rachel Everard,
treasurer; Shoko Miyamoto,
Member-at-Large; Pascal
van Lieshout, JFD Editor;
and of course David Shapiro,
Past-President) as well as
members of the various
committees, all of whom
have ensured that the IFA is
in very robust shape.
We will continue to explore
ways of developing and
serving our membership,
finalizing plans for the
Congress in Lisbon, and
doing all we can to serve the
needs of people with fluency
disorders and those who
seek to support them.
I am acutely aware of
how busy we all are, how
much competition there is for
our time and attention, and
that the IFA is not the only
organization to which people
are affiliated. It seems
important that we are
strategic and realistic about
what we may expect from our
membership, and what we
can deliver to them, all the
time being ambitious for the
IFA and what it will achieve.
I know that there is much
wisdom and expertise among
our officers and exciting
challenge.
I welcome any feedback
from the membership about
what the IFA is doing well,
could do more of, or should
start doing (or indeed should
stop doing!). Your voice is
very important in the
development of the IFA, so
please use it. You can email
me on:
[email protected]
I look forward to hearing
from you at any time, or
meeting you in person at the
Congress in Lisbon in July.
Committee Update: IFA Conference- 2015
The next IFA event will take place in
Lisbon, during July 2015. The congress
itself will be held at the Catholic University
th th
from 6 -8 July, with a pre-conference
nd rd
workshop on 2 -3 July and a postth
conference workshop on 9 . Lisbon is
Portugal’s capital and has been influenced
by many different cultures over the years.
We therefore hope that our host city will
appeal to both our minds and our senses!
The International Fluency Association (IFA)
is interested in developing and improving
cooperation between people with fluency
disorders, clinicians and researchers in the
fields of stuttering and cluttering. Fluency
disorders affect the lives of many people
the world over, yet we continue the search
for answers and explanations.
As members of the conference’s
organizing committee, we are convinced
that by working together, pooling our
resources, experiences, frustrations,
successes, and ideas, we can achieve
more. We want to create a congress which
can inspire clinicians, researchers, and
people who stutter and clutter.
The congress will maintain its researchfocus, but we also hope to highlight and
discuss research findings in terms of their
clinical value. Last, but not least, we want to
interpret the term fluency disorders in its
broader sense, by inviting submissions
relating to stuttering, cluttering and other
fluency disorders. The title of the congress,
“Embracing our differences: Sharing
perspectives on stuttering and cluttering”,
reflects these aims.
We invite you to submit your proposals
th
by the deadline of 11 January 2015.
Submissions will be evaluated by a Scientific
Committee during early 2015. Papers will be
selected on the bases of quality, type of
proposal, nature of proposal and relevance
to conference participants. The
corresponding author will be notified of
th
acceptance status by 15 March 2015.
More details regarding the 2015 congress
are available at: www.theifa.org.
From the President-continued
th
to be nothing short of historic. Come celebrate IFA’s 25
We welcome both returning and new members as we
expand and improve IFA. Truly, I look forward to working Anniversary. For updates, see
http://www.theifa.org/index.php/congress or go to Facebook at
with you as we – together - help realize IFA’s mission.
http://www.facebook.com/ifa.congress2015 or Twitter
My Thanks
@IFA2015.
IFA’s Executive Board Members
Professional Liaisons: Thank you, Vilma
President Elect: Thank you, Elaine Kelman
Makauskiene (Lithuania, [email protected]), for organizing an
(England, [email protected]), for offering your
international network of IFA members who have completed a
reflections and insights and for your willingness to help
detailed survey about service trends and needs and who are
lead IFA through the next three years of its Strategic
informing us of fluency-related events around the world.
Plan 2013-2020 as IFA aspires to the next level of
Self-Help and Consumer Affairs: Thank you, Mark
understanding and service with people who have fluency Irwin (Australia, [email protected]), for remaining
disorders.
resolute and passionate about bringing both the voices and
Treasurer: Thank you, Rachel Everard
perspectives of people with fluency disorders to all IFA
(England, [email protected]), for
deliberations.
succeeding IFA’s previous and longstanding Treasurer,
Research and Publications: Thank you, Rodney
Dorothy Ross, and both shepherding IFA through
Gabel (USA, [email protected]), for following up on
consolidation of its financial holdings and helping to keep the initiatives of the former Chair (Joe Donaher), working to
IFA financially healthy and solvent.
construct and publish the second issue of IFA’s Newsletter, and
Secretary: Thank you, Norimune Kawai
encouraging new authors from diverse countries to engage in
(Japan, [email protected]), for being readily
research and publication.
available and for summarizing the proceedings of both
Finance Committee: Thank you again, Rachel
Board of Directors and General Membership meetings.
Everard (England, [email protected]), for ensuring
Member-at-Large: Thank you, Shoko
that IFA is an absolutely responsible steward of its financial
Miyamoto (Japan, [email protected]), for
holdings.
working diligently to ensure that the diverse perspectives
Website and Technology: Thank you, James Auof IFA’s General Membership are being heard and
Yeung (England, [email protected]), for being
represented in all deliberations related to IFA’s business IFA’s remarkable webmaster. You are prompt, imaginative, and
and to develop a public awareness statement that
absolutely invaluable. On IFA’s website, you present the
describes the nature of fluency disorders and the
tangible face of IFA to the world.
potential impact of intervention.
Instruction and Training: Thank you, Nan Bernstein
IFA’s Committee Chairs
Ratner (USA, [email protected]), for coordinating IFA’s
Membership: Thank you, Shelley Brundage
continuing education unit (CEU) opportunities, for identifying a
(USA, [email protected]), for being
group of experts in the field of fluency and fluency disorders
absolutely creative and resolute to build and maintain
who are willing to provide training at minimal or no cost to
IFA’s international membership base and for providing
developing countries, for developing venues to
remarkably insightful and prompt replies and reflections disseminate cutting edge information related to fluency
to all matters related to IFA’s business.
disorders, and for coordinating the Pre-Congress
Nominations, Elections, and Awards: Thank
Workshop, sponsored by the Stuttering Foundation, to be
you, Shelly Jo Kraft (USA, [email protected]), for
following the former Chair, Trudy Stewart, and for using held in Lisbon, Portugal, July 4-5, 2015. For updates
about this basic skills workshop preceding IFA’s 8th World
your technological savvy and communication skills to
Congress, please consult IFA’s website
complete IFA’s calls for nominations and elections and
to select IFA members who will receive awards at IFA’s (http://www.theifa.org) and the Stuttering Foundation’s
th
8 World Congress on Fluency Disorders.
website (http://www.stutteringhelp.org/).
Meetings and Conferences: Thank you, Hilda IFA’s Other Essential Positions
Sønsterud (Norway, [email protected]),
Historian/Archivist: Thank you, Per Fabaech
th
for organizing IFA’s 8 World Congress on Fluency
Knudsen (Denmark, [email protected]) and Hermann
Disorders in Lisbon, Portugal, July 6-8, 2015. This
Christmann (Denmark, [email protected]), for being active in the
congress (Embracing Our Differences – Sharing
original development of IFA as an organization and for
Perspectives on Stuttering and Cluttering) will be
documenting and archiving IFA’s rich history. IFA and the world
research-based and, as a collaboration between IFA and await your release of this material and posting it to IFA’s
the ICA (International Cluttering Association), promises
website.
From the President-continued
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Fluency Disorders
(JFD): Thank you, Pascal van Lieshout (Canada,
[email protected]), for liaising with IFA,
continuing to encourage scholarly research and publication
in the Journal of Fluency Disorders, and inviting
submissions from international locations that have been
under-represented or unrepresented.
I must add my sincere thanks to IFA’s General
Membership. No one can lead an organization without the
support of its members.
Thank you for your positive and constructive
feedback; thank you for your guidance; thank you for being
both involved in and committed to IFA’s mission. Together
we are united and strong. We care deeply and we are
devoted to understanding fluency and the management of
fluency disorders and to improving the quality of life for
people with fluency disorders – worldwide.
Personal Comments and Reflections
Now I’ve got to get off the bicycle. Oddly, I just
found my notes of what I shared with IFA’s General
th
Membership at IFA’s 7 World Congress on Fluency
Disorders in Tours, France (July 2012), when I was
informed that I had been elected IFA President. Those
thoughts trigger a few reflections now.
First, I owe my personal thanks to Willie Botterill
(England), the former IFA President, who also served as
Past President during my term and who provided initial
guidance and valuable insights. She helped me get onto
the bicycle.
I reflected then, as I reflect now, on just how
valuable IFA is as an organization. It (we) are an assembly
of people from diverse countries with diverse ideas,
cultures, and customs. Some people say that differences
divide. However, IFA is living proof that when we focus on
a common interest and are willing to learn and grow
together, there is nothing we cannot accomplish together.
IFA is an exemplar to the world for how to
communicate, how to find common ground, and, perhaps,
how to achieve peace. Fluency disorders indeed present
an essential message. However, at some point, the
message of fluency disorders transforms into a medium for
a larger message, one of harnessing and achieving
positive human potential.
www.theifa.org/index.php
During my term as IFA President, deliberately I have
not reflected on my own personal experience as a person who
stutters. For me, the organization needs to be much larger
than my own experience or that of any one person, if it truly is
to be global. So forgive me if I wax personal for a moment.
There was a time, nearly my first 20 years in fact,
when stuttering consumed me. Stuttering was the basis on
which I defined myself. I stuttered all day, I stuttered at night, I
even stuttered in my dreams. Stuttering affected my
relationships, my sense of my abilities, and what I thought I
could become. Simply put, I could not function as a
communicator. My dog, Buddy, was the only living thing to
which I could communicate. I swore an oath that if I could find
a way to talk, I would do my best to help others. This is now
th
my 38 year as a Speech-Language Pathologist, a specialist
in fluency disorders, and a Professor of Communication
Sciences and Disorders. I continue to be thrilled and thankful
for the opportunities to serve and learn from others.
To serve as your IFA President has been a dream
beyond my imagination. I hope during my term as President
that I was successful in bringing honor and pride to IFA, to the
professional community (i.e. speech-language pathologists,
speech scientists, and researchers), to people with fluency
disorders, to my university, and to my family. I believe I would
have brought pride to my grandfather, Joseph Lyman, an
immigrant from Russia. When I was young, I walked with my
grandfather, hand in hand, by a stream. Stuttering severely as
I did, I remember when he said to me, “I love you just the way
you are.”
IFA’s promise is unlimited. I know IFA is in good
hands. I feel sure that you will give Elaine the same degree of
enthusiastic support you have given to me.
It’s been a wonderful ride. Thank you from the bottom
of my heart.
Kindly,
David Shapiro
IFA President, 2013-2014
David A. Shapiro, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Robert Lee Madison Distinguished Professor
ASHA Fellow, Speech-Language Pathologist
Western Carolina University
Communication Sciences & Disorders
188 Health & Human Sciences
4121 Little Savannah Road
Cullowhee, NC 28723 USA
email: [email protected]
phone: (828) 227-3291
fax: (828) 227-7456