I'd like to find a host family for a patient of mine in an English speaking country for the next school year. She wants to go to high school (11th grade) and share your family life. Compensation of living expenses is possible, and her family is willing to host your child for one year in exchange.
Don't be afraid of the formalities. I had all my four children live in a foreign country (Spain, France, USA, USA) without the aid of a greedy organization and have the experience to make the arrangements.
If you're interested, write me a mail, and if not, spread the word, please.
November 31st, 2001
On the German version of the texts page I have added a number of things I have writen in the past. Brand new is a evaluation study of the first Van Riper group therapy which was held last year in Austria.
My old e-mail address starke@vossnet.de was scheduled to expire on Dec 31, 2001, but, for unknown reasons, is still working. Please only use the new one info@andreasstarke.de anyway. 29541
November 27th, 2001
The Sixth Oxford Dysfluency Conference (ODC'02) will be held on June 26th thru 29th, 2001 at St. Catherine's College in Oxford, England. The conference is directed both to clinicians and researchers. Deadline for submitting a proposal is April 30, 2002.
Here's a round number: In a little bit the 2222th visitor (since April 2001) is going to reach this site. Herzlich willkommen!
November 25, 2001
The Interdisziplinäre Vereinigung für Stottertherapie e.V. (interdisciplinary association for stuttering therapy) has elected (selected) a new board: Peter Schneider (chair), Andreas Starke (vice-chair), Marita Reinartz (treasurer) and Susanne Rosenberger (secretary). A website is planned for the near future.
November 21st, 2002
Host family wanted for a patient of mine (female, now 10th grade) who wants to go to high school for the next school-year in an English speaking country. Further details under "News".
November 18th, 2001
The first Austrian group therapy in which the Van Riper program was administered in an intensive interval format has ended today in Hirschwang an der Rax.
A big thank you went to Michaela Hatz and Günter Eisenkölb, because it was due toA their initiative and persistent work that this project became reality. Both of them have participated as patients, and because they have maintained an intensive contact with various branches of the Austrian health system, their counterparts could witness their progressing states of "becoming fluent" on the phone throughout therapy.
In the meantime the 2nd group therapy has begun. The 3rd group (which is fully booked already) will begin on January 5th, 2002. Interviews for the 4th group (start September 6th) will be held in January.
October 10th, 2001
On Friday, October 12th, 2001 at 4h p.m. a panel discussion will be held in the Jugendgästehaus Speyer, with the panel consisting of Roland Pauli, the originator of the Ropana method and me.
Further information on the Bundeskongress der Stotter-Selbsthilfe (federal congress of the stutterers' self-help association) can be found under http://www.stottern-rlp-srl.de
September 29, 2001
Because I received a number of inquiries from the "scene" about my health state after my stroke, I want to briefly report what has happened. About three weeks ago I had an episode (for the third time) which appeared quite similar to a TIA (transient ischemic attack). A TIA is a temporary interruption of blood supply to part of the brain, in my case with vision and language/speech problems (productive language, stuttering not more than usual!) After thorough investigations the experts have determined that my stroke risk is normal. The episodes appear to be related to migraine or have to be considered as minimal seizures. Summary: Red lights are off. I did not have a stroke and I don't have to be more afraid of one than any other 57 year old.
September 21, 2001
The new Therapie-Informations-Broschüre (TIB) of the Austrian Selfhelp Initiative ÖSIS has aAppeared today. This 66 page brochure comprises a general overview about the treatment of stuttering, a rather extensive presentation of various therapy programs (one letter-size page each) and a list of books and videos.
The IVS (interdisciplinary association for stuttering therapy) has sent out invitations for the ivs-Werkstattgespräche (workshop talks) which will be held Nov 23rd thru Nov 25th in Erzhausen (close to Frankfurt-Main). Further information is available thru the IVS office: ivs-geschaeftsstelle@web.de
September 17, 2001
The time is 2340 hours. A moment ago the 1500th visitor (since the end of April) has reached this website. Thank you for your interest!
September 1, 2001
Tomorrow the 22th group in the series Das Van-Riper-Programm als intensive Intervalltherapie (The Van Riper program as intensive interval therapy) will start. The series has been running since 1987.
The venue for this group will be the Haus am Schüberg in Ammersbek near Hamburg for the first time. http://www.haus-am-schueberg.de
August 28, 2001
Plans for a Ferien- und Therapielager für stotternde Kinder (vacation and therapy camp for children who stutter) in the bundesland of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (northern Germany with a large shoreline on the Baltic Sea) are becoming more specific now.
This therapy program is targeted to 16 children age 8 to 14. It consists of two segments of 16 days each. The schedule is as follows:
1st Segment: Jul 26 thru Aug 18, 2002 [calendar weeks 31 and 32]
2nd Segment: Oct 4 thru 20, 2002 [calendar weeks 41 and 42]
Besides me, the logopedists (SLP) Claudia Osthues-Krebs and two other therapists with considerable experience in the treatment of stuttering will work clinically in the camp. Eight student internships will be available.
Please direct preliminary inquiries to me. My e-mail address is: info@andreasstarke.de
August 15, 2001
The key topic of the 31th Annual Congress of the DBL (Deutscher Bundesverband für Logopädie - German federal association of logopedics) will be Multimorbidity / Comorbidity and Life Quality. The congress will be held on July 5th thru 8th, 2002 in Lübeck (Schleswig-Holstein in the northern part of Germany).
The DBL requests proposals for contributions (call for papers) to the key topic and to all other areas of logopedics as well until October 31, 2001. Further information can be found here: http://www.dblev.de/pdf/Endfassung.pdf
One place for the continuing education seminar Therapie stotternder Kinder (therapy for children who stutter) with Peter Schneider and Patricia Sandrieser August 23 thru 26, 2001 has become available because of illness. If interested please send me a mail to info@andreasstarke.de.
August 1, 2001
A couple of days ago SPIEGEL-Online has published an article about brain-organic abnormalities which have been found in adults who stutter:
A somewhat more detailed presentation of the work of the researcher Anne L. Foundras can be found on the Website of the Stuttering Foundation of America: http://www.stuttersfa.org/whatsnew/foundas.htm
July 30, 2001
A round birthday: Erwin Richter, a grand old man of stuttering therapy, will celebrate his 90th birthday on August 1st. He will enjoy receiving congratulations sent to his address:
Erwin Richter, Straße der Jugend 12, 03222 Lübbenau.
ELSA, the European League of Stuttering Associations is the umbrella organization of Europe's national stuttering associations and self-help organizations.
July 24, 2001
Kenneth St.Louis, West Virginia University, has presented his study "Multicultural Attitudes Toward Stuttering" at the 6th World Congress for People Who Stutter in Ghent. There is still a need for data from a great number of countries that have not been included in the study yet. For students from Germany / Austria / Switzerland (concerning German) and other language communities / cultures as well this is a prime opportunity to get an interesting research project going. Further information is available directly from Dr. St.Louis, kstlouis@wvu.edu
July 24, 2001
The Croatian and the Slovenian speech-language associations (Hrvatsko logopedsko drustvo, Logopedska sekcija drustva defektologov Slovenije) are sponsoring the 2nd Congress of Croatian Speech and Language Pathologists. It will be held September, 27th thru 30, 2001 in Moscenicka Draga, Croatia. Congress languages areA Croatian, Slovenian and English. Please direct inquiries to kongres@hdl.hr. Further information is available at http://www.hld.hr.
July 24, 2001
On May, 12th tru 16th, 2002 Buenos Aires will see the 1st Latin-American Congress on Stuttering and a Meeting of People Who Stuttering (1ero Congreso Latinoamericano de Tartamudez y Encuento de Personas que Tartamudean). If you want to express your interest, please write (in Spanish or English) to tartamudez@yabiru.fmed.uba.ar . Further information will appear on the website http://www.aat.org.ar. Congress language is Spanish.
July 23, 2001
The 7th World Congress for People Who Stutter will be held in February 2004 in Perth/Western Australia. This was decided at the 3rd ISA conference in Gent/Belgium.
Everyone who is interested to receive further information or is interested in presenting something may send an email to Peter Dhu, peterdhu@bigpond.com.
ASEA - Australian Speak Easy Association, the Australian organization of people who stutter has presented an impressive application to host the congress. Please make a note in your calendar!
Today, the 1000th visitor (since the end of April 2001) will hit this website. Thank you for your kind interest.
July 7, 2001
On July 16, 2001 at 11:30 p.m. RTL (a nationwide German TV channel) will broadcast a feature titled Stottertherapie am Beispiel der KST (Kasseler Stottertherapie) (stuttering therapy exAemplified by KST - Kasselian Stuttering Therapy). This will be part of the science series Future Trend produced by Focus TV. Further information about KST can be found here: http://www.kasseler-stottertherapie.de/kst.asp. To learn more about the city of Kassel: http://www.kassel.de/english/kframe.htm.
July 3, 2001
The Landesverband Nord (reginal branch Northern Germany) of the Bundesvereinigung Stotterer-Selbsthilfe e.V. (federal association stutterers 146 self-help) sponsors the workshop Pullout? Kein Problem - oder doch? (Pull-out? No problem - really?).
. . . . .
Does this sound familiar? Did you go through a Van Riperian therapy program some time ago, and now you feel that pull-outs and cancellations don 146t work anymore? Perhaps your skills have become weakened over time? Then this workshop is for you, because we will have an exchange of experiences and thoughts and we will do booster exercises.
This workshop will be directed to the needs of those who come, with exercises / practice (real life situations in the city and on the phone, discussions and exchanges). (From the announcement)
. . . . .
The workshop will be directed by Claudia Osthues-Krebs (logopedist), fees are DEM 110 or DEM 80 (reduced rate). Please register with Maja Seegert, Kranckestr. 8, 30161 Hannover, Germany, phone +49-511-696495, mseegert@web.de
June 20, 2001
The 4th IFA World Congress On Fluency Disorders will be held in Montreal, Canada August 11 - 15 of 2003.
If you are not an IFA member and wish to reAceive future announcements please write to
Dr. Rosalee Shenker The Fluency Centre 4920 de Maisonneuve Blvd W. Montr 233al, Qu 233bec H3Z 1N1, Kanada
A couple of minutes ago I have received my first feedback relating to the Workshop "Take A Pause". This participant wrote:
"... Not only I was enthusiastic, but C. and E. as well. Therefore we practiced on our way home and had a great deal of fun. All three of us get butterflies in our stomach before talking on the phone. Fear? That doesn't count. What threatens us? Nothing! Therefore we took a real nice round of phone-calls.
We called friends, acquaintences and parents of the others and involved them in a conversation. And what did happen? The "fear" disappeared and we started to like it. And the pauses, too. (They occasionally disappeared, too.) Well, Mc....Rib at McDonalds got his longest Pause ever. There we have practiced in a face-to-face situation. We had a great 5 hours which went by in a fly.
Meanwhile I have developed a kind of relaxed relationsship with my telephone. And I still do my phone exercises. It works."
June 16, 2001
Yesterday the 30. Jahreskongreß des Deutschen Bundesverbandes für Logopädie in Kassel (30th annual convention of the federal association of logopedics) was closed. My personal highlights were Hildegard Brand's presentation about her group therapy work with mutistic children ("Therapeutische Maßnahmen bei mutistischen Kindern in einer Therapiegruppe") and my own presentation of Tom Waits' "Tom Traubert's Blues" and Bob Dylan's "Just Like A Woman" at my Karaoke debutA on Friday.
I seems that the Sprachheilzentrum Meisenheim (Website http://www.sprachheilzentrum-meisenheim.de) becomes a first address concerning mutism, if it isn't already regarded as such.
And what about Karaoke? I will leave the judgment whether the audience liked it to others. But Karaoke may become a new hobby, I now can understand why the Japanese are so crazy about it. It is amazing what one can do with electricity, Andreas Starke "plugged-in", wow :-) .
June 13, 2001
The three remaining seminars Therapie stotternder Kinder (therapy for children who stutter) are sold out. You can register for all courses on the waiting list.
July 08 thru 11, 2001 July 12 thru 15, 2001 Aug. 23 thru 26, 2001
I'll notify you as soon as a place becomes available. If you're interested please mail me info@andreasstarke.de.
June 12, 2001
For some time I have been using a hand tally in therapy. A hand tally is a small and handy instrument (like a small pocket watch, but "thicker") that is used by train guards to count passengers, forest rangers to count trees, and tally men to count bananas ("Come Mr. Tally Man tally me banana" - Harry Belafonte). Everytime you press a lever a counter moves forward by 1, like a mileage meter in a car.
You can use the device to count events. The therapist can count events in the speech behavior of the patient, the click sound serves as a most welcome attention aid. Or the patient may carry the device with him/her and count certain reactions or accomplishments (e.g. cancellations or pull-outs). The feel of the counter in the patient's pocket may serAve as a reminder to keep practicing.
It is my experience that such counters are difficult to find in shops. The only maker seems to be located in Taiwan. I can offer a counter at DEM 25,00 / EUR 12,00 plus DEM 5,00 / EUR 2,50 for shipping and handling (charged only once if more than one unit are shipped).
The Schule für Logopädie (school of logopedics) on the island Reichenau in Lake Constance sponsors a "Stotterintensivwoche" (intensive stuttering week) under the title SUMMER - SAILING - STUTTERING. Youths from 10 to 16 are invited to participate. Cost is DEM 350.00. The event will be directed by Wolfgang Braun, Karl Schneider und Jürgen Kohler who teach at the school of logopedics. Further information may be requested by e-mail logo.reichenau@med-akademie.de , by phone (07534) 99 36 80 or by fax (07534) 99 36 810.
June 7, 2001
I'm back from Austria (4th week of the 1st Austrian therapy group) and again available "as usual."
May 29, 2001
Maja Seegert suggested this morning that a phone list be established where those who like to practice Van Riperian techniques on the phone can publish their names and numbers. A brilliant idea! This is self-help at its best. Health insurance and telecommunication companies will love it.
The list is up on my German page [Ehemalige]. If you'd like to see your name there send me a mail info@andreasstarke.de
May 25, 2001
An interesting article has apeared in the daily newspaper "USA Today": Nicholas Brendon faces down stuttering demon. Click here
May 23, 2001
There are still vacancies for the seminar Mach mal Pause (take a pause, this used to be Coca Cola's slogan in Germany in the 50's and 60's) which Volker Urban and I will conduct June 8 thru 10, 2001 in Bielefeld!
. . . . .
The seminar deals with "Urban's Pause".
This new and very simple therapy approach was invented by Volker Urban: Take a pause before attempting to say a word on which you expect to stutter. The new aspect of this method is not to use the pause to relax or to prepare for the word, but simply to wait until you feel you can say the word fluently.
Stuttering very often generates an urge to quickly go into the words. However, if you are able to resist this urge -very often not more than one to three seconds are needed- you may encounter a baffling success: You can say the word completely fluent. The more often you succeed with this the easier and more natural the pauses will become after some time.
. . . . .
This seminar which is sponsored by the Landesverband NRW derBundesvereinigung Stotterer-Selbsthilfe e.V. (Northrhine-Westphalia state branch of the federal association stutterers' self-help) is very inexpensive, DM 120.00 only including room and board. Please register with Andrea Müller, Jobststr. 35, 44629 Herne, phone (02323) 20 80 76
May 22, 2001
Thanks to Florian this website has got a new layout. On the page [Therapy] I have uploaded the info broschure for those who are interested in the Van-Riper-Programm als intensiver Intervalltherapie (Van Riper program as intensive interval therapy). Not yet available in English.
May 7, 2001
Today the cruise of the info-bus from Cologne to Mainz (May 8), Stuttgart (May 9), Nuremberg (May 10) and Munich (May 10) is going to start. This is part of the "Stottern und Schule" (stuttering and the schools) campaign of the BV Stotterer-Selbsthilfe. One goal of this effort is to work for equal chances for students who stutter in the primary and secondary schools. Further information at
I have received an inquiry today concerning stuttering therapy from around Moscow, Russia. This young man could come to Germany in July and August. His grandparents live here. Who could work intensively with him then? He speaks little German, English quite, and Russian very well, of course.
May 3, 2001
Tomorrow (May 4) at 11:35 p.m. a special edition of the science magazine "Modern Times" (sic!) is going to be broadcast in ORF2, a TV channel from Austria. The title is "So alt wie das Wort: Stottern" (As old as the word: Stuttering). A section of the third therapy week of the Van Riper group therapy will be shown which was recorded during the Easter week. This year the Van Riper Program As Intensive Interval Therapy is being done for the first time in Austria. The venue is a seminar hotel in Reichenau-Hirschwang an der Rax. An additional group is scheduled to start in September. For 2001-2002 a total of four groups is planned for Austria. Further information can be found on the website of OESIS:
Today was the final day of the 3-day seminar "Therapie stotternder Kinder" (therapy for children who stutter) with Peter Schneider und Patricia Sandrieser. In the final meeting many participants have proposed that the seminar be extended by another day, and have articulatedA a need for case seminars. This is being contemplated. Schneider and Sandrieser's book "Stottern im Kindesalter" (stuttering in childhood) has recently been published by the publisher Georg Thieme Verlag. The next dates for this seminar are: July 8 thr 11, and July 12 thru 15, and August 23 thru 26, 2001. Inquiries by e-mail to info@andreasstarke.de
April 26, 2001
Today my son Florian (Starke Media) has implemented the possibility for me to publish notes about current and recent events on this website. I hope that you'll be around once in a while.
April 22, 2001
On the weekend April, 20 thru 22, 2001 the second meeting of The Van Riper As Intensive Interval Therapy was held in Hübingen (between Koblenz and Limburg) with around 60 participants. A decision was reached to establish a list of contact persons for therapy maintenance activities which will be published on this website.
April 20, 2001
The next continuing education seminar "Theory and Therapy of Stuttering" (in German language) is going to be held May 12 thru 17, 2001 in Aumühle near Hamburg. There is room for one more! Please inquire for registration material by sending me an e-mail to info@andreasstarke.de. Additional seminars are planned für the calendar weeks 38, 40, 45. The calendar weeks 7, 15, 20, 38, 40, 45 are scheduled for 2002.
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