Financial assistance is available

If you would like to attend this one-day event but find the cost prohibitive, please reach out to Nic Brow at: nic@friendswhostutter.org 

Join our individualized one-day program!

Young people who stutter

Meet other people who stutter, share challenges and successes, learn about stuttering and ways to increase your confidence, and have fun communicating

Adults who stutter

Share your story, connect, and support young people who stutter across workshops, shared meals, and large group activities

Parents & Caregivers

Learn how to best support your child, meet other caregivers of people who stutter, and share experiences and concerns with people who get it

SLPs & Students

Learn more about stuttering, current therapy practices, and the support available to people who stutter and their families. SLPs earn 0.55 CEUs

Presenters and Facilitators

Joseph Donaher, Ph.D, CCC-SLP is the Academic and Research Program Director of the Center for Childhood Communication at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an adjunct associate professor of Otorhinolaryngology at The University of Pennsylvania. He is a Board-Certified Specialist in Stuttering, Cluttering and Fluency.

Caryn Herring, Ph.D, CCC-SLP is a person who stutters and a speech-language pathologist. Caryn met Lee in 2010 and has been involved with Friends ever since. Caryn served as the Chairperson on the Friends Board of Directors for 5 years and is proud to follow in Lee’s footsteps as the current Executive Director of Friends. She graduated with her PhD from Michigan State University, her MS from Purdue University, and her BA from the University of Pittsburgh. Caryn’s research interests include the process of desensitization, reducing adverse impact, and enhancing accessibility for people who stutter. Caryn has presented at conferences and Universities across the country as well as taught and clinically supervised undergraduate and graduate students at Michigan State University, The University of Pittsburgh, Gannon University, and Duquesne University.

Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP is the owner of YouSpeak Stuttering Therapy, providing stuttering therapy in Philadelphia and virtually, along with consulting services. She is an adjunct instructor in the graduate program at Teachers College, Columbia University, and the producer and moderator for Virtual Learning by Stuttering Foundation, as well as the Stuttering Foundation Podcast. Sara serves on the board of Friends: The National Association of Young People Who Stutter. As a person who stutters, she brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her work supporting people who stutter and their families.

Mark O’Malia, M.S., CCC-SLP is a speech-language pathologist and person who stutters. He is the Assistant Executive Director at The American Institute for Stuttering in NYC, working with people who stutter across the lifespan. Mark is actively involved in the stuttering self-help community, frequently facilitating and presenting workshops at national conferences for both Friends and the National Stuttering Association (NSA).

Jordan Siegel, MS, CCC-SLP is a pediatric, outpatient, speech-language pathologist in the Center for Childhood Communication at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and adjunct assistant professor in Temple University’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders where he teaches the stuttering course.

Mandy Rodstrom, MA, CCC-SLP is a stutterer and former school‑based Speech‑Language Therapist with 20 years of experience. A dedicated advocate for client‑ and family‑centered, neurodiversity‑affirming, and trauma‑informed care, she specializes in developmental stuttering. After more than 30 years as a covert stutterer, she embraced her voice, now running her own private practice and teaching graduate‑level stuttering courses. She volunteers with stuttering support groups and enjoys music, traveling, cooking, and family time with her husband and three children.

Ingo Helbig, MD, is a pediatric neurologist in the Division of Neurology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Helbig went to medical school in Heidelberg and Mannheim, Germany, and Lexington, Kentucky, USA. He trained at the Epilepsy Research Centre, Melbourne, Australia, and was Assistant Professor at the Department of Neuropediatics, Kiel, Germany. Between 2011 and 2015, he co-headed the EuroEPINOMICS-RES Consortium, the European counterpart of the NIH-funded Epi4K consortium involved in collaborative genomic studies to identify genes for human epilepsies. He was part of the Genetics Commission of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) from 2014-2017 and currently leads the Epilepsiome Task Force of the ILAE Genetics Commission, which aims at increasing genetic literacy in the epilepsy community. After heading the epilepsy genetics group at the University of Kiel, Germany, he transferred to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in 2014 and became faculty in the Division of Neurology in July 2017. The main focus of his prior work was to understand how genetic changes lead to severe epilepsies in both children and adults, contributing to several new gene findings in the field in the last seven years including GRIN2A, CHD2, KCNA2, HCN1, and DNM1. Dr. Helbig uses clinical and research expertise to curate epilepsy-related genes in variants within his leadership role of the Epilepsy Clinical Domain Working Group.

Stephen Wilkins is a second year speech-language pathology graduate student at Montclair State University and a person who stutters. Stephen has been involved with Friends both as a child who stutters and as a facilitator, recently assisting with facilitating kids’ workshops at the Friends national convention held in Charlotte in 2025 as well as with virtual kids groups. He also enjoys running, listening to music, and reading fantasy novels.

Sample Schedule

Learning Outcomes

After attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Explain the relationship between effective intervention and self–esteem for children who stutter.
• Describe the need for a management approach to childhood stuttering that includes parents, professionals and support networks.
• Identify specific social and clinical strategies for supporting children and their families.

Friends Accommodation Statement

Friends is committed to providing accessible programming in accordance with ASHA standards and our values of inclusion and equity. Accommodation requests will be reviewed individually, and we will make every effort to meet those needs based on available resources.

To request accommodations or ask questions, please contact Nic Brow at nic@friendswhostutter.org at least 5 days in advance.