Testimonial for Friends One Day Conference

As a first time local host organizer, we found the process of setting up a one day conference to be very worthwhile. From the beginning, Lee Caggiano kept us informed of the requirements and provided good detail about the recommendations for everything from room necessities to activity ideas.

As a growing stuttering department, we felt this was an excellent way to open our doors to the stuttering community in central Indiana. Families of children who stutter, community SLP’s and local Universities were able to come together setting the foundation for future collaboration in helping those who stutter in Indiana!

Most impactful, however, was the privilege of having both Sara MacIntyre (conference coordinator) and Dr. Heather Grossman (guest speaker) lead our Indianapolis One Day Conference (February 2015). Sara was integral in organizing a successful day, from helping with ideas for our kid’s break-out sessions to gathering an inspiring panel of adult speakers who stutter. A person who stutters herself, Sara innately offered comfort to families that their own child can be a confident and successful communicator just like Sara-despite struggling with a stutter!

Dr. Grossman’s enlightening presentation set the stage for bountiful discussion from the parents and community SLP’s who attended. She clearly expressed the complexities associated with a stuttering diagnosis in a straight-forward manner which was appreciated by the audience. This allowed for honest discussion throughout the remainder of the conference, creating a rich and powerful day for each participant.

We were truly thrilled by the outcome of our ODC and look forward to organizing another ODC in the future!

Testimonial for Friends Ohio One Day Conference

My family recently attended our first FRIENDS One Day Conference organized by Bridget Chapman, M.A. CCC-SLP at The Ohio State University Speech, Language Hearing Clinic in Columbus, Ohio. My son, Elijah, is a 6.5 year old boy who stutters, and before the conference, my son had never met another person who stutters. My husband and I had also never had the opportunity to network with other parents of children who stutter. The FRIENDS conference proved to be a welcoming and comfortable environment for our family to finally connect with other kids who stutter and their parents. When I asked Elijah what he thought of the conference at the end of the day, he told me “it was AWESOME!” He also shared that before the conference, he thought that he “was the only one who stutters.” The break out sessions for the kids, parents and professionals attending the conference were top notch and offered a very safe space to ask questions, be vulnerable with one another and to learn more about stuttering and the best approaches to treating it, and more importantly, to empower kids and adults who stutter. We will definitely be attending the annual conference in Chicago this summer and look forward to being apart of the FRIENDS Family for years to come!