{"id":144939,"date":"2025-01-31T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T14:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939//?p=144939"},"modified":"2025-04-14T10:40:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T14:40:02","slug":"discovering-what-is-rarely-spoken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939//discovering-what-is-rarely-spoken/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939//","title":{"rendered":"Discovering What Is Rarely Spoken"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pegasus Professor Martine Vanryckeghem does not avoid difficult conversations. As a world-renowned researcher on fluency disorders, Vanryckeghem knows the path to progress has to go through the most uncomfortable words. So, she talks openly about her primary research interest /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2014 stuttering /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2014 everywhere she goes: In clinical settings, in classes at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½, and on platforms around the world. She recently delivered a keynote address at the International Conference on Stuttering in Rome./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201cStuttering isn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2019t a bad word,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201d Vanryckeghem says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201cWe need to talk about it and reduce the stigma instead of pretending it doesn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2019t exist. This is a global issue that impacts millions of people./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/n

The people include Marc Anthony, Joe Biden, Steve Harvey, Bo Jackson, Nicole Kidman, Kendrick Lamar, Shaquille O/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2019Neal, Ed Sheeran, John Stossel and Tiger Woods. The list goes on and on./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201cAnd so many children,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201d Vanryckeghem says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201cThey usually suffer alone./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/n

Vanryckeghem/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2019s research and her clinical therapy start with a simple yet overlooked concept: listening /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2014 really listening. Not just to the bumpy words, but to the struggle./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201cI call it /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2018the view from within,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2019 /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201d she says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201cThink of stuttering like an iceberg. Only 10% of an iceberg is visible. The other 90% is under the surface. The only way to know what/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2019s going on with someone who stutters is to ask questions and to listen to them talk about their own speech. If we listen, we/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2019ll realize there/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2019s much more to the stutterer than the stuttering./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/n

As Vanryckeghem prepares to retire in the spring, she wants to leave a path for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ students to carry forward the crucial research she and her late husband, Gene Brutten, began. So, she/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2019s establishing the Martine Vanryckeghem and Gene Brutten Endowed Scholarship, set up to be funded into perpetuity. The scholarship will be awarded annually to a graduate student in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders who demonstrates a passion to contribute to the needs of people who struggle with fluency./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201cBecause of my background, it would be nice for an international student to be considered for the scholarship,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201d says Vanryckeghem, referring to the fact she moved to the U.S. from Belgium to pursue her master/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2019s and doctoral degrees. Mostly, however, she came across the ocean to begin a partnership in marriage and in research with Gene./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/n

When asked what goes through her mind when she hears /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201cthe Martine Vanryckeghem and Gene Brutten Endowed Scholarship/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201d spoken out loud, the expert on fluency is at a loss for words. She/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2019d rather allow their unlikely story to tell us everything we need to know./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/n

Gene and Martine did not meet as curious colleagues or as mentor and protege. They met as a traveler and a tour guide. Gene, a professor at Southern Illinois University, was already regarded as a leading researcher on stuttering. He/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2019d written a seminal book, The Modification of Stuttering, and was coming to Martine/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u2019s hometown of Ghent to lead a workshop on the subject./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201cI was hired to show him around the city,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201d says Vanryckeghem, who worked fulltime in a clinical practice with children who had developmental delays./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/n

Privately, she felt intimidated at the prospect of meeting Brutten. But when the author/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939//professor/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939//researcher arrived, he introduced himself simply as /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201cGene./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/144939/n