Distance Learning in Fluency Disorders

Patricia M. Zebrowski, Ph.D.

University of Iowa

"Distance education is planned learning that normally occurs in a different place from teaching and as a result it requires special techniques of course design, special instructional techniques, special methods of communication by electronic and other technology, as well as special techniques of course design, and other technology, as well as special organizational and administrative arrangements." (Moore & Kearsley, 1996).

Why Distance Learning in Fluency Disorders?

• Results of recent survey study (Yaruss & Quesal, 2002) indicate a decrease in the number of faculty with extensive clinical and research experience in fluency disorders. Why?

• Aging of the population and faculty retirement

• Overall, there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of Ph.D. students enrolled in CS&D graduate programs

• Changing ASHA standards combined with budgetary constraints may lead to a decreased demand for faculty specializing in fluency, OR….

• Colleges and Universities may seek to save money by using adjunct faculty teaching either semester-long or intensive courses augmented by some form of distance education.

• At the same time, the advent of specialty recognition has led to increased demand for advanced course work in fluency.

• Over the past 5-10 years, technological advances make distance learning more readily available and relatively easy to implement.

Why Distance Learning?

• Results of recent survey study (Yaruss & Quesal, 2002) indicate a decrease in the number of faculty with extensive clinical and research experience in fluency disorders. Why?

• Aging of the population and faculty retirement

• Overall, there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of Ph.D. students enrolled in CS&D graduate programs

Platforms Used for “Virtual Classrooms”

Hosting Services:

• Blackboard• WebCT• ICON• Horizon Wimba • Elluminate• Polycom

Platforms Used for “Virtual Classrooms”

Web and Video Conferencing Services (single or multiple sites)

• Elluminate (web)

• Polycom

• SONY

• LifeSize

Hybrid Models

On-line + web conferencing

On-line + web conferencing + student on-site visit (e.g. Lisa Scott, FSU)

On-line + on-site lab and problems (PBL) + intensive on-site faculty visit (e.g. Zebrowski, Syracuse U.)

On-line + video conferencing + faculty on-site visit (e.g. Zebrowski, Gallaudet U.)

Florida State University

• Complete M.A. distance learning program

• Takes 3 years to complete.

• Students are bachelors level school-based SLPs

• SPA 5225 is one of the required courses. It is an on-line course with supplemental videoconferencing and one on-site student visit

Florida State University• Lecture notes, class discussions, assignments

and on-line quizzes posted on Blackboard.

• Assignments include viewing and analyzing streaming video clips

• Class given schedule of assignments and quizzes

• Students visit campus once per semester

Syracuse University

• Semester-length class

• Sole fluency class in both BS and MS program

• First 2/3 of the semester devoted to weekly group problem-solving activities and labs facilitated by either clinical faculty in fluency disorders or Ph.D. TA

• 3-4 problems focusing on onset and development of stuttering (including unassisted recovery) and the nature of stuttering

• Class given schedule of assignments and quizzes

• Students visit campus once per semester

You are beginning a fluency evaluation with a three year-old girl. Prior to working with the child, you interview the parents to obtain a history. When you ask them what they expect from the evaluation, they say that they want to know whether their daughter’s disfluent speech is “normal.” They add that if she is “stuttering,” they’d like to know whether or not “she’ll outgrow it.”

You have just completed the evaluation of a three year-old girl. The information you’ve obtained leads you to conclude that she exhibits a stuttering problem. The parents ask, “Why does our child stutter?”

You are a speech-language pathologist working with a 30 year-old man who stutters. He reports that he experiences “total fluency” when he sings, or when he reads aloud with the congregation during church services. He also states that he “knows he is going to stutter” on words beginning with /p/ and /b/, and that he is “usually right.” He adds that he “has an especially hard time saying these sounds if they’re at the beginning of a sentence.” At the end of his description, your client asks you why he “can be fluent at some times, and not others,” and why he “can’t say /p/ or /b/ words.”

1. Present the Problem Statement

The instructor presents an “ill-structured” problem or scenario to

the group, based on desired outcomes, learner characteristics and

compelling situations from the real world (Finkle and Torp, 1995). The “ill-structured problem raises the concepts and principles relevant to the subject matter, but critical data and information must not be provided.

2. List What is Known (i.e. “What Do We Know?”)

3. List What is Needed (i.e. “What Do we Need?”)

4. List Possible Actions, Recommendations, Solution (i.e. “What Should We Do?”)

(Stepien, Gallagher & Workman, 1993)

Labs

•Frequency measures, judgments of type and proportional measures

•Severity ratings (Iowa Scale)

•Group comparisons

•Adaptation, consistency and loci

Lecture

• One-week intensive course

• Daily five-hour lecture, including video, demonstration therapy, discussion.

• Final is group development of therapy plans for two hypothetical cases (adult and child).

•Adaptation, consistency and loci

Gallaudet University • Semester-length class

• Weekly two-hour lectures via videoconferencing (Polycom)

• Syllabus, class notes, readings posted on Blackboard

• Students choose four research articles and provide written summary of : purpose, method, results, clearest points, muddiest points and two discussion questions

• Class given schedule of assignments and quizzes

• Students visit campus once per semester

Gallaudet University

• One weekend visit at the end of the semester for demonstration therapy and guided practice (Basic Skills tape)

• Students work alone or in groups to develop therapy plan for two hypothetical cases.