Written by Dr. Anthony J. Caruso, Professor Emeritus, Kent State University
Dr. Conture clearly is one of the most influential authorities in fluency disorder in the history of communication sciences and disorders. The consistency of his contributions over the past 30-some years to the profession and to consumers sets a standard that few will reach in their careers. What is particularly impressive is what he has done for students. His contributions to students are summarized below.
Doctoral Students
In light of the much written about future shortage of new PhDs in our discipline, Dr. Conture’s abilities to encourage MA-level students to pursue doctoral coursework is compelling. He has served as advisor and mentor to approximately 15 (by my count) individuals who have been awarded their PhD and are well on their way or already established as leading voices in communication sciences and disorders. The number of doctoral students mentored by Dr Conture is, to my knowledge, unequaled by any professor whose career length is equivalent to his. He is a recognized student advocate, providing students with advice and guidance that is the best for each of them.
Clinical Opportunities
Through his career as a university professor, Dr. Conture has developed unique clinical opportunities for students. For example, for many years, he was one of only a few clinicians to provide adult group stuttering therapy and included graduate students in that process. The same can be said for the opportunities provided by his weekly Fluency Evaluation, a 3-hr diagnostic for adults and children who stutter and their families. Students are provided with testing and interviewing experiences that would have been difficult if not impossible to replicate elsewhere. Another unique clinical opportunity are the Home Visits that Dr Conture and his students are involved in. These home visits, rare in fluency disorders treatment or clinical training for students in fluency disorder, provide students with invaluable opportunities, e.g., to observe child-adult interactions in the home and to teach parents how to facilitate their child’s fluency in their typical environment rather than just in the clinic. Also, these home visits provide students with opportunities to observe directly differences in stuttering behavior in the clinic vs. the home environment. The latter is particularly important for treatment planning and we are unaware of any formal, similar clinical training in fluency disorders elsewhere.
Research Opportunities
Dr. Conture is one of the most widely published clinical scholars in communication disorders. And, his abilities to get students interested in research and publishing are noteworthy. Dr. Conture has been extremely influential in having his students develop scholarly writing as part of their careers. Typically, students, and not only doctoral students, but masters students and undergraduates as well, have opportunities to be involved with all aspects of research, from data acquisition to data analyses and interpretation of the results. A review of Dr. Conture’s publications will demonstrate that his students appear as co-authors on most of them. The opportunity to work with Dr Conture on research has been an important experience that has led to several of his former students making consistent contributions to the literature.
Finally, if there is a more ethical and conscientious individual who is sensitive to students needs, we are unaware of who that would be. His contributions to and methods of encouraging and training students have been exemplary.