A professor in the College of Education's Communication Disorders and Sciences program was the only American presenter at a recent conference on stuttering in Croatia.

Marilyn Nippold spoke at "Basic Science and Stuttering: Research for Clinicians," a conference held in Cavtat, Croatia, May 26-29. She joined a lineup of nine who also hailed from Australia, Canada, Germany and Sweden. Attendees represented some 20 countries.

Stuttering is a common speech disorder that affects people of all ages, worldwide. Many people who stutter require specialized treatment from a qualified speech-language pathologist, the profession chosen by many graduates of the CDS program.

They work with communication disorders that affect speaking, listening, reading, writing and hearing. These may include specific language impairment in children, autism, cleft palate, voice disorders, aphasia in adults who’ve had strokes, children with cochlear implants, reading and learning difficulties and many others.

Nippold's presentation was titled, "Language, Phonology, and Early Stuttering."

Stuttering has been an interest of hers since she began researching the topic in the 1980s. She teaches the graduate course in stuttering for the CDS program and also teaches and researches language development, language disorders and literacy.

The conference was organized by the University of Sydney, Children’s Hospital Zagreb, and the Croatian Association for People who Stutter. It was also Nippold's first trip to Croatia, which she says is a beautiful country.

"The conference was an exceptionally fine opportunity to learn about the latest research in stuttering, and to discuss the findings with the presenters in an open and collegial environment," Marilyn said. "The medieval city of Dubrovnik was nearby, and it was a fascinating experience to walk the old city wall."

- by Cody Pinkston, UO College of Education