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
There is something I would like to tell everyone who has a stutter or knows someone who does. I attended a speech program that has radically changed my life. I had a severe stutter ever since I was able to talk and had finally had it with people laughing at me and giving me a hard time while I struggled to get out a word.
People who don't have speech problems just don't understand what a stutterer has to go through. I have had very embarrassing moments while dealing with the general public. Sales clerks have turned to the person I was with and asked "What does she want?" I just crawled further inside myself and didn’t talk to anyone. I led a miserable existence.
Then I decided to go to college and learn to work on computers. I thought if I was a computer operator I would not have to talk to anyone and that would be a perfect job for me. I could hide from my stuttering. But, I found out that in my field I would have to also talk on the phone a great deal. I loved computers, so I decided to do something about my speech. I was tired of hiding and avoiding conversations. I wanted a social life like my fluent friends had...