Clinical Decision Making in Fluency Disorders, Fourth Edition

Clinical Decision Making in Fluency Disorders is back in a new fourth edition and has been thoroughly updated with recent advances in the field and a current review of the literature. It continues to focus on therapeutic tools for the speech-language pathologist to assist clients who stutter. Written with enthusiasm and creativity, the text centers not only on increasing fluency, but also on the therapeutic journey by reviewing goals, techniques for assessment and counseling, and ongoing disorder management.

Clinical Decision Making in Fluency Disorders will benefit graduate students who are beginning their comprehensive study of fluency disorders, as well as professional clinicians expanding their knowledge of this specialty area. This text provides clinical insights to assist people who stutter with their ability to communicate and enhance their quality of life. A PluralPlus companion website includes PowerPoint lecture slides for every chapter, sample syllabus, multiple choice questions, and assessment measures.

New to this edition:

• Reorganization of chapters for better flow of material
• Three new chapters on the nature of change, counseling, and the therapeutic process
• Additional Clinical Decision Making and Clinical Insight boxes with vignettes that illustrate distinctive clinical examples and unique perspectives
• Added or expanded sections on critical thinking, mindfulness, temperament, anxiety, acceptance and commitment therapy, resilience and protective factors
• Updated sections on genetics and neuroimaging research

*Note Regarding Access to Supplementary Content Online: This book comes with related materials hosted on a PluralPlus companion website. If you purchase or rent a used copy of the printed book, the code to access the website printed inside the book may have been previously redeemed/used or be incorrect and you will NOT be able to use it. To guarantee access to the supplementary materials on the website, it is recommended you purchase a new/unused copy of this book directly from Amazon or the publisher, Plural Publishing, Inc. If you purchase from other resellers, check with the reseller regarding the validity of the access code before completing your purchase. The publisher will not replace inactive access codes to customers renting or purchasing used books from Amazon or via other resellers.

"The great thing about this book is what it is not: it is not a recipe book, it does not succinctly define stuttering, it does not simplify a client, and it is not a cookie-cut assessment plan and therapy process. The book is comprehensive, clinically relevant, dense with references, and holistic in viewing the client. Manning and DiLollo capture the complexity that is stuttering and provide exceptional details to develop the mindset of the clinician. The reader will take away an appreciation of the therapeutic process, rather than narrowly focus on the therapy outcomes. With that being said, readers will also broaden their concept of what successful stuttering therapy can be and open their eyes to all that can be achieved through the process." --Jill E. Douglass, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT, in Journal of Fluency Disorders (May 2018)

"Figuring out how to sequence all the content in a graduate communicative disorders class, to enhance learning and cover key issues, is a challenge and an art. All textbooks for fluency disorders appear to start the journey with imparting information about fluency disorders, then climb up to historical information on etiology and the development of stuttering, before ascending to the pinnacle of assessment and treatment. In other texts, I have found the transition from the assessment chapters to treatment chapters to be too abrupt. Prior to launching into specific techniques, there is the need to present a "bird's eye view" of the overall therapeutic process, especially how it could unfold with a person who stutters. Thus, one of the best aspects about Clinical Decision Making is the insertion of chapters 6, 7, and 8 prior to any chapters on treatment. These chapters are inherently fascinating because they focus on broad issues about how people face change, overcome adversity, and live a satisfying life. Since a dedicated counseling course may be absent from required course listings among graduate schools in speech language pathology due to pressures to include instruction on an ever-expanding scope of practice, these chapters are essential. They provide vital instructions and examples about how to counsel and work on attitudes and emotions with clients and families to make positive communication - and life changes. My students are engaged in these chapters, since they can easily connect these concepts of change, common factors, and counseling frameworks to clients from all disability areas. Now, when we shift our focus to fluency enhancing and stuttering modification "techniques," we will do so with a background and understanding that the most important aspect of therapy may not be the percentage of fluent syllables, or even the specific protocol employed. These are important principles to teach, and Manning and DiLollo do the work for me." --Laura Johnson, University of Wisconsin/Madison, Madison Metropolitan School District, Madison, WI, in Journal of Fluency Disorders (May 2018)