Our Program
The Eastern Virginia Medical School Fluency Program treats stuttering as a behavioral problem. We do not perceive stuttering as the consequence of a complex emotional disorder. We can confidently say that after decades of helping stutterers, the proper approach to treating this perplexing, long-standing affliction is to accurately redevelop the physical properties of speech.
The EVMS Fluency Program employs laboratory derived principles of learning in the development of new speech skills. During the therapy program, physical mechanisms used in the production of speech are precisely and systematically retrained. Participants in the EVMS Fluency Program relearn the proper means of producing the elementary sounds of speech. The stutterers then rebuild their ability to correctly produce syllables, words and, ultimately, complete sentences.
In The News
- Read ANN LANDERS' column, where she says "Program may be answer for those who stutter..."
- Virginia Pilot newspaper - Front page, Sunday, December 26, 2015. The Gift of Speech: Students come from across the globe to tackle stuttering.
- Watch the CBS news story covering Ross Barrett and his successful program graduates.
- WVEC-TV Interview with Ross Barrett
Patient Testimonials
Ross S. Barrett, M.A., CCC/SLP
Instructor of Clinical Otolaryngology
EVMS Fluency Program Director
Board Recognized Fluency Specialist
Learn more about Ross Barrett
My son, Carter, was in your program last May. It would be an understatement for me to say that his experience was incredible - it was truly life-changing. I just wanted to share something that happened just yesterday.
Carter had his third and final interview with a company for their management training program. The Regional Vice President in Denver conducted the interview. Carter shared with me that the VP told him that he was very impressed not only with Carter's self-confidence and self-esteem, but that he also was very impressed with Carter's communication skills! That was said to a young man who could not even introduce himself to anyone less than one year ago because he couldn’t pronounce his name!!! I was relaying this to a good friend of mine yesterday afternoon and we both ended up in tears.