---
title: Stuttering Expert Upends Decades of Ineffective Treatment Guidance
date: 2026-10-22T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/stuttering-expert-upends-decades-of-ineffective-treatment-guidance"
section: Articles
---
# Stuttering Expert Upends Decades of Ineffective Treatment Guidance

*October 22, 2026* — by [Brad Scriber](/author/brad-scriber)


> UMD Research Changes Lives: Maryland researchers and clinicians use ‘stutter-affirming therapy’ to replace shame with positive communication goals.

*Masters student Emerson Heaton conducts a virtual Avoidance Reduction Therapy for Stuttering (ARTS) session with Baltimore resident Anicia Timberlake.

Photo by Stephanie S. Cordle/University of Maryland — Hearing and speech sciences master's student Emerson Heaton conducts a virtual Avoidance Reduction Therapy for Stuttering (ARTS) session with Baltimore resident Anicia Timberlake over Zoom. (Photo by Stephanie S. Cordle)*

<span lang="EN">Earlier this year, for the first time in her life, musicologist Anicia Timberlake let herself stutter without straining to stop it. The therapeutic exercise, called open stuttering, was exhilarating, although the loss of control was scary. </span>

<span lang="EN">“It felt like the first time that I went skiing,” she said. “Wow! I’m just flying down a mountain!” </span>

<span lang="EN">Like many people who stutter, Timberlake had learned at a young age that she should hide her speech difficulties at all costs. </span>

<span lang="EN">As a child, therapy and special speaking exercises pulled Timberlake out of school. Experts told her to hold her tongue in certain positions or to sing rather than speak. These sessions made it clear she was different and fostered a sense of shame, but they didn’t stop her stuttering. </span>

<span lang="EN">That’s a familiar pattern to University of Maryland applied developmental psycholinguist Nan Bernstein Ratner, a Distinguished University Professor in the </span>[<span lang="EN">Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences (HESP)</span>](https://hesp.umd.edu/)<span lang="EN">. Two decades ago, she wrote a </span>[<span lang="EN">pair</span>](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094730X05000240?via%3Dihub)<span lang="EN"> of opinion </span>[<span lang="EN">papers</span>](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094730X05000240?via%3Dihub)<span lang="EN"> that challenged her field to produce evidence that some popular interventions can end stuttering. Now she is in the midst of publishing several studies that are upending time-honored practices and assumptions of clinicians and researchers. Bernstein Ratner has come to a simple but surprising conclusion: “None of it appears to help.” </span>

<span lang="EN">Speech therapists have used a variety of interventions with the goal of eradicating their clients’ stutters. For example, parents might be advised to speak more slowly, to choose simple words, or to praise their children’s speech when it’s smooth and note when it’s choppy.</span>


*Nan Bernstein Ratner — Nan Bernstein Ratner*


**Sidebar note:**

**UMD Research Changes Lives**  
At the University of Maryland, scientists and scholars come together to spark new ideas, pursue important discoveries and tackle humanity's grand challenges—improving lives in our communities and across the globe. See more examples of how UMD research changes lives at [today.umd.edu/topic/research-impact](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research-impact).





**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Hearing and Speech Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/hearing-and-speech-sciences), [Research Impact](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research-impact), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Behavioral and Social Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-behavioral-and-social-sciences)