Last year Mark Onslow invited me to participate in a conversation with a fellow clinician and researchers about the relevance of brain-imaging research to clinicians (in the field of stuttering). The intention was for the conversation to be published open access, for clinicians. I’ve linked to the paper below.
Chang, S. E., Jackson, E. S., Santayana, G., Zavos, G., & Onslow, M. (2024). Contemporary clinical conversations about stuttering: What does brain imaging research mean to clinicians? International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549507.2024.2327472
I enjoyed discussing what is known about stuttering from neuro-imaging research, and I hope it will inspire more collaboration between researchers and clinicians. After all, so far the best treatments for stuttering are behavioural and were born of clinical excellence decades ago (which researchers subsequently studied and formalised).
Today, neuromodulation techniques offer the possiblity of improved neuroplasticity; but for a therapeutic effect such techniques need to be combined with behavioural change. (Neuroscientists don’t have expertise in both and neither do speech pathologists.) This is one area in which neuroscience researchers and speech pathologists could be collaborating, with the aim of improving treatment options in stuttering.