Thursday, April 26, 2012

Holger Stenzel is dead


I received the sad news that Holger Stenzel is dead. He was well-known in Germany and with international experts for his keen interest in stuttering medication and his self-reports on using medication. Holger was also a great source for my blog, and constantly kept me informed on stuttering medication.  Check out these few posts where I talked about Holger.

He once came to visit me in Luxembourg. I was certainly impressed by his level of understanding on the functioning of neurotransmitters in the brain. His day job was as an independent electrician. He tried a few medication and wrote about his experiences, but none was ultimately very effective. He had high hopes for Pagoclone. Too high hopes, which ultimately left him deeply disappointed and probably without a fall-back option, I think. Which should also be a lesson for those that create those high hopes...



I am really sad to see him gone. Especially, as his sudden death was of course not an accident, but his own decision. Which makes me wonder whether stuttering played a crucial role or not. We will never know.

Holger, Vielen Dank für Deine Arbeit und Deine Unterstützung. Durch Dich war ich und alle meine Leser immer gut informiert! Wir werden Dich nicht vergessen und an besseren Therapien und Verständnis des Stotterns arbeiten: Medikament oder nicht!


Sunday, April 15, 2012

Stuttering-language connection?

I have always questioned the connection between language and stuttering. Clearly, adults who stutter do not seem to show any language deficits. I have not observed a deficit in myself, nor in others. Studies showing a connection therefore must suffer from statistical error (correlation by chance), sample error (clinicians only see the extreme cases, i.e. children suffering from multiple deficits), and measurement errors (language ability measured wrongly), if I am right.

Here is an article by Nippold from the University of Oregon questioning the connection.

PURPOSE:

This article explains why it is reasonable to question the view that stuttering and language ability in children are linked, the so-called "stuttering-language connection."

METHOD:

Studies that focused on syntactic, morphologic, and lexical development in children who stutter (CWS) are examined for evidence to support the following claims: 1) that CWS, as a