The Meaning of Fluency

Want to share your feedback? Send us a message!Dr. Evan Usler joins Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP to discuss a recent paper in JSLHR, "Communicative Fluency and the Experience of Stuttering: A Viewpoint," which is linked below.  Evan shares his synthases of various theories related to our conceptual and practical understandings of fluency. He explores questions like, 'What does it mean to be fluent or disfluent?' 'What is wrong with defining fluency as purely the absence of stuttering?' 'What is superficial fluency vs. communicative fluency?' How does a deeper understanding and meaning of a 'deep-state fluency' fit into the lived experience of stuttering? Evan further explores how an expanded conceptualization of fluency beyond just simply speech production aligns with Sheehan's Approach-Avoidance Conflict, and further, has the potential to be a useful indicator of psychosocial well-being for individuals who stutter.Article discussed today: "Communicative Fluency and the Experience of Stuttering: A Viewpoint" in JSLHRFor more information on the University of Delaware Stuttering Project, visit the website here.Evan Usler, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the University of Delaware's Communication Sciences & Disorders Department. Evan is the Director of the Interpersonal Neurophysiology Lab where he studies the interactions between cognition, language, and speech motor control.