The Friends One-Day Conference is a wonderful opportunity for families to come together and learn more about stuttering, supporting their child, and to begin building community. Children’s programming is activity-based and focuses on exploring attitudes and emotions, increasing understanding of stuttering, and instilling a greater sense of confidence — while making FRIENDS! SLPs and students will learn more about stuttering, current therapies, and the support available for those who stutter.

Financial assistance is available. If you would like to attend this one-day conference but you are experiencing financial difficulties and find the cost prohibitive, please reach out to Sara MacIntyre at: sara@friendswhostutter.org 

Vivian Sisskin is a Clinical Professor Emerita at the University of Maryland, an ASHA Fellow, and Board-Certified Specialist in Stuttering, Cluttering, and Fluency. She served as Chair of ASHA’s Council for Clinical Certification in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology and received ASHA’s Media Champion Award for her work in promoting public awareness of stuttering. Sisskin owns the Sisskin Stuttering Center and created the YouTube Channel “Open Stutter” to serve as a resource and promote acceptance and change for stutterers.

Tim Flynn is a person who stutters and works as a speech pathologist at Jamestown Elementary in Arlington Public Schools and is owner of Forward Steps Therapy. He has been involved in the stuttering self-help community for multiple years across organizations, facilitating and leading workshops, seminars, and events. Tim guest lectures at NYU graduate level stuttering course, and has presented nationally in building awareness of stuttering across populations. Tim has a special interest in reducing stigma and stereotypes among people who stutter. He has published multiple articles related to that subject and works with providing support for children who stutter within the public schools.

Ben Goldstein is a speech-language therapist and stuttering consultant for Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland and an associate clinician at the Sisskin Stuttering Center in the Washington D.C. area. He is also an adjunct professor at Gallaudet University, teaching the graduate level stuttering course. Ben has presented on Avoidance Reduction Therapy for Stuttering (ARTS®) at national conferences, speech pathology graduate school programs, and to school-based speech pathologists in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Aidan Marshall-Cort is a Health and Wellness Specialist. He is the Chapter Leader of the National Stuttering Association’s Washington DC Chapter. He enjoys speaking on the relationship between stuttering, race, and neurodiversity. A passionate advocate, Aidan understands the empowering effect of vulnerability to create open discussion amongst those who identify with these groups. In his free time, Aidan is a competitive weight lifter, chess player and film buff.

Nic Brow works as a speech language pathologist at the Sisskin Stuttering Center. Nic completed his undergraduate training at the University of Vermont, followed by a Master’s degree in Speech Language Pathology from the University of Iowa. Throughout his education, he conducted research on the experience of stuttering of adults and teens. He has worked as a clinical educator at Western Michigan University and as a speech therapist across multiple public schools with students from the preschool to high school level. Nic frequently presents on acceptance-based therapy for stuttering both nationally and internationally. He predominantly works with youth who stutter and their families, within the framework of Avoidance Reduction Therapy for Stuttering (ARTS®). In his free time, Nic enjoys surfing, pickleball, and spending time with family and friends.

Taro Alexander has stuttered since the age of five, and truly understands the physical, social, and emotional impact of stuttering. In 2001, Taro fulfilled his life-long dream, establishing SAY to help transform the lives of so many young people who stutter. In 2008, Taro launched Camp SAY to provide kids and teens with another transformative, confidence-building experience. Taro is the passionate force behind SAY and inspires the important work that we all do each day. Taro is widely recognized for his work with people who stutter and has led workshops, master classes, and performances across the world. Taro received the Charles Van Riper Award in 2002 from the National Council on Communicative Disorders and was the keynote speaker at the 2005 National Association of Young People Who Stutter (Friends) Conference. In 2019, Taro was the recipient of the Annie Glenn Award, bestowed by The American Speech-Language Hearing Association. Taro is married to the incredibly talented Leigh Pennebaker, and has three amazing kids.

Leigh Pennebaker, Co-Founder of SAY: DC, has been involved with SAY since the lead-up to its founding in 2001. She graduated from Millsaps College earlier that year with a BA in Studio Art, a background that prepared her to serve as the costume designer of the very first SAY shows, while also volunteering her time as a teaching artist and member of the backstage crew. Over the subsequent decades, she has taken on many roles with the organization, and her favorite job of them all has been working as Director of Art at Camp SAY. Since the summer of 2016, Leigh has found the perfect balance of creativity and community at Camp SAY. Camp brings out young people’s openness to try new things and experiment with materials and techniques. It also fuels their eagerness to work together to create something beautiful and unexpected. Seeing kids inspire each other, bravely venture into unfamiliar territory together, surprise themselves with their own abilities, and ultimately get hooked on the creative process reminds Leigh of why she follows the path of the Artist, herself.

Brooke Leiman Edwards MA, CCC-SLP, BCS-SCF is a board certified specialist in stuttering who has 15 years of experience directing stuttering clinics and volunteering in the stuttering community. Brooke currently is the Director of Speech for SAY: The Stuttering Association for the Young. In addition to her work with SAY, Brooke has had the wonderful opportunity to volunteer and facilitate workshops with Friends at several of their annual conferences over the last decade and is very excited to be joining Arlington’s first One Day Conference!

Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP, owns YouSpeak Stuttering Therapy, a private practice in Philadelphia, where she works with individuals of all ages who stutter. She is also the Director of Programs for the Stuttering Foundation, where she runs a monthly webinar series, Virtual Learning by the Stuttering Foundation, as well as the Stuttering Foundation Podcast. Sara is an adjunct instructor at Teachers College, Columbia University, and serves as the Friends One-Day Conference Director. She is passionate about continuing to grow access to local support opportunities and helping those who stutter, parents, and clinicians to feel a similar sense of hope, connectedness, and acceptance that the support community has given her along her own stuttering journey and path towards positive change.