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28 Speak Out August 2017
THE PROJECT TITLED the Effective Stuttering Treatment Project
will compare the most efficacious direct and indirect treatments
for pre-school children. The grant was funded by the Research
Council of Norway under the Better Health and Quality of Life
scheme.
Funding for the project was released recently, and the research
will be conducted over five years, contributing significantly to the
management and treatment of children who stutter.
“I think the EST-Project stands to make an important contribution
to management of preschool children who stutter worldwide.
Approaches to stuttering intervention vary around the world, in
part because there is currently a paucity of evidence comparing
available interventions,” said Elaina.
“The EST-Project aims to identify the most effective stuttering
intervention for preschool children. In turn, this will ensure more
children receive the best possible treatment during the earliest
years of the disorder and subsequently avoid the longer term
mental health and social consequences that people who stutter
can experience.”
The other chief investigators on the grant are Associate Professor
Kari-Anne Bottegaard Naess, University of Oslo and Professor
Charles Hulme, University College London. Currently Elaina is
Lead of Teaching for the Master of Speech Pathology at the
University of Melbourne, Director of the University of Melbourne
Stuttering Clinic, and an Honorary Fellow of the Murdoch
Childrens Research Institute.
Elaina has been collaborating with Associate Professor Naess
for the past four years. During Associate Professor Naess’
most recent visit to Melbourne, Elaina discussed the prospect
of conducting a treatment trial in Norway with her. As there are
currently no guidelines in Norway to inform management of
preschool children who stutter, the EST-Project presented as an
opportunity to address this.
“I am really excited about this project. Since graduating as a
speech pathologist, I have dedicated my career to working in the
field of stuttering. This project is a wonderful opportunity for me
to make a substantial contribution to the evidence-base regarding
best practice for preschool children who stutter while also
enhancing my international collaborations.”
Currently the team is seeking applications for a PhD student
to work on the project. Elaina will supervise the PhD student
together with the other chief investigators. “The PhD student role
is a critical one within the project as they will be responsible for
delivering both of the interventions to participants.”
“Working at the University of Melbourne, and MCRI I’ve
constantly been surrounded by excellence. Everybody is so
motivated and so driven; it’s easy to stay motivated when you are
surrounded by people like that.”
“Particularly as an early career academic, I think it is essential to
have mentors. Working in research especially is challenging as
it is such a competitive environment. Having a few mentors (for
support and guidance) is absolutely crucial.”
“My immediate career goals are focused on teaching and
research. From a teaching perspective, one of my primary aims
is to create a passion in my Masters students so that they are
enthusiastic and keen to work in the field of stuttering. I get
great satisfaction from watching my students work with people
who stutter, doing a great job and enjoying it! From a research
perspective, I am committed to focusing on stuttering, but the
projects I am involved in are quite diverse in this field. One of the
most fascinating areas of my research is trying to understand why
some children stutter and others don’t and also to understand
why some children recover from stuttering while for others it
becomes a chronic condition.”
Elaina got the news in late 2016 that the application had been
successful. “Given the competitiveness of the funding scheme
I wasn’t expecting the application to be funded. When my
colleagues told me that our project had been funded, and that we
had received the full amount of funding requested, I was ecstatic.
It was a very special moment in my research career that I will
never forget.”
Elaina attributes a couple of factors that she believes led to the
success of the grant application.
“Firstly, this research will directly benefit the children of Norway.
Because there are currently no clinical guidelines in Norway
informing the management of children who stutter, it is possible
that some children are either receiving ineffective treatment or no
UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE RESEARCHER AND LECTURER DR ELAINA KEFALIANOS IS ONE OF THREE CHIEF
INVESTIGATORS ON A $2.4 MILLION RESEARCH PROJECT THAT WILL HAVE IMPLICATIONS WORLDWIDE FOR
SPEECH PATHOLOGY CLINICIANS AND BENEFITS FOR CHILDREN WHO STUTTER.
Worldwide implications for
stuttering research
Dr Elaina Kefalianos