Hollins Communications Research Institute (HCRI – https://www.stuttering.org ), a leading center for stuttering research and therapy innovation, accomplishes another milestone in the non-profit’s 39-year history, as the number of stuttering therapy program graduates exceeds the 6,000 mark this week.

HCRI introduced the world’s first physically based stuttering treatment program in 1972, designed to help people with a wide range of stuttering types and severities acquire skills to speak fluently. Since that time, President and Founder Ronald L. Webster, Ph.D. and his in-house research team continually enhance HCRI’s behavioral therapy program, which is administered to only ten people at a time over 12 days. New research discoveries, technologies, and training methods are regularly incorporated into HCRI’s treatment protocol to make fluency-skill learning easier, more precise, and more sustainable for program participants.

“At HCRI, we have dedicated our careers to helping people who stutter open new doors of opportunity through fluency,” Webster said. “It is a joy to see our program participants, including our 6,000th client, return home with new skills that enable them to replace stuttered speech with fluent conversation. And, those who continue to practice and use the tools learned during HCRI therapy will likely remain fluent for the long term,” he added

Along with treating and serving the 6,000th program participant, HCRI clinicians have administered more than 600,000 hours of stuttering therapy, with program participants producing more than 70 million practice responses, since the center began operations.

HCRI’s stuttering treatment program, Hollins Fluency System II : Advanced Speech Reconstruction for Stuttering™, is in its third-generation. Hollins Fluency System II helps people who stutter learn how to replace faulty muscle contractions that cause stuttering with new muscle behaviors that generate fluent speech. By acquiring the skills to properly reconstruct muscle actions that drive movements of the tongue, lip, jaw, soft palette, and vocal folds, individuals who stutter can achieve and maintain the ability to speak fluently.

Seventeen 12-day therapy programs are conducted annually. HCRI’s stuttering treatment includes 100 hours of clinical therapy and evaluation, as well as an extensive package of post-therapy support. Research shows that 93 percent of clients achieve fluent speech by the end of treatment.  Follow-up studies confirm 70 to 75 percent maintain fluency for the long-term.

HCRI program participants are between the ages of 11 and 73 and come from every state in the U.S. and 47 other countries. Clients include broadcaster John Stossel of Fox News; Annie Glenn, wife of Senator and Astronaut John Glenn; as well as athletes, teachers, engineers, students, doctors, military personnel, business professionals, police officers, actors, and others from all walks of life.

For more information about HCRI’s approach to fluency-skill training, as well as the Institute’s scholarship and tuition waiver programs, contact HCRI at 540-265-5650 or visit https://www.stuttering.org.

About HCRI

Hollins Communications Research Institute was founded by Ronald L. Webster, Ph.D. in 1972 to investigate stuttering through scientific discovery and treatment innovation. Under Dr. Webster’s direction, Roanoke, Virginia-based HCRI, a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization, has become an international leader in stuttering research and the development of innovative, scientifically based therapy approaches.

HCRI is located at 7851 Enon Drive, Roanoke, Virginia 24019. Visit https://www.stuttering.org or call 540-265-5650 to learn more about HCRI stuttering treatment.