In this two-part special of "Stutterology," we take a deep dive into the infamous unpublished 1939 experiment at Univesity of Iowa by Wendell Johnson and his graduate student, Mary Tudor, which has been dubbed the "Monster Study."

Join our host Ezra, a person who stutters, and two key guests, including a Speech Language Pathologist as we unravel never-before-discussed insights into the backstory of Wendell Johnson, how it influenced this study, and how it relates to modern-day speech therapy for stutterers.

There is a lot to unpack and explore in this episode, including:

  • Wendell Johnson being a person who stutters
  • The influence of general semantics (not to be confused with semantics) on Johnson's own relationship with his stuttering.
  • Nicole's summary of the over 200-page study
  • The issue of consent with orphans in psychology study
  • The absolute confusing inconsistency of what was said to the various orphans
  • Stuttering VS 'speech interruptions' in children

Part 2 comes out in 1 week (Nov 7th), where we discuss the results of the study, and how we see this in modern day speech therapy for children who stutter (YIKES).

Guests:

Nicole Kulmaczewski - CCC-SLP and Deputy Director of MySpeechApp

Jenny McGuire - person who stutters and Executive Director,

FOOTNOTES:

  1. Tudor, M. (1939). An experimental study of the effect of evaluative labeling of speech fluency (Master of Arts (MA), University of Iowa; W. Johnson & C. E. Obermann, Eds.). University of Iowa. Retrieved from https://iro.uiowa.edu/esploro/outputs/graduate/An-experimental-study-of-the-effect/9983777385602771/filesAndLinks?index=0

  2. Williams, Dave. 1999. “Wendell Johnson and Charles van Riper.” Web.mnsu.edu. Minnesota State University. 1999. https://web.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/pioneers/davewilliams.html

  3. Sies, L. F. (1968). Wendell Johnson — An Appreciation. ETC: A Review of General Semantics, 25(3), 263–269. Jstor. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/42576235

  4. Interview: Jim Dyer discusses a 1930s study on stuttering. (2001, June 11). All Things Considered. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A166043255/BIC?u=multnomah_main&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=cc8e3697

  5. Wendell Andrew Leroy Johnson. (1981). In Dictionary of American Biography. Charles Scribner's Sons. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/BT2310010232/BIC?u=multnomah_main&sid=bookmark-BIC&xid=63540cf2

  6. Qatar, S, (Host). (2022, Oct 8). Claypole, J (Guest). Unethical experiments: the Monster Study. In All In The Mind. Leake, J (Producer). https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/allinthemind/all-in-the-mind-unethical-experiments-monster-study/14073414

  7. Thompson, S (Host). (2022, Sep 15). 129.2 - The Monster Study. In American English Podcast. https://americanenglishpodcast.com/129-2-the-monster-study/

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