How do people change? How do decision making and self-efficacy predict readiness to make a change?

Tricia Zebrowski, professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and doctoral candidate Naomi Hertsberg will discuss these questions and more at an Obermann Afternoons Talk, “Beyond Technique: Stages of Change and Stuttering Management in Teenagers.”

The talk, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4 at the UI Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, 111 Church St. in Iowa City.

Zebrowski has worked with teenagers who stutter for many years in individual, group, and intensive therapy formats. Her current work is focused on the study of relapse prevention in this population.

Borrowing from converging work in what makes us ready to change, and the common factors that underlie treatment progress, Zebrowski and her collaborators at the University of Rhode Island have proposed that the techniques speech-language pathologists use to help adolescents manage their stuttering are often mismatched to teens’ readiness to use them.

That is, when “therapy fails," changing techniques is not as important as helping the therapist identify where adolescents are in the process of change, and how to help them prepare to actively participate in changing behavior.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to attend this event, or would like more information, contact Jennifer New in advance at 319-335-4034 or at jennifer-new@uiowa.edu.