Catherine Montgomery

Catherine Montgomery, director and founder of the American Institute for Stuttering (AIS), passed away at the end of May after an extended fight against cancer.

Catherine Montgomery

AIS is a non-profit organisation offering treatment to people who stammer, support to their families, and clinical training to speech-language pathologists interested in acquiring special expertise in stammering.

Catherine developed an integrated model of stammering therapy which draws on both the 'stammer more fluently' and 'speak more fluently' approaches, combining desensitisation with stammering management and fluency shaping techniques. It inspired the 'Integrated Approach' courses now run by City Lit in London. Catherine outlined her approach in a BSA conference call in May 2005.

BSA Chief Executive Norbert Lieckfeldt commented:

"A devastating loss - clinicians, therapists, teachers like her are few and far between. Our thoughts are with her loved ones, her colleagues and her clients. We will miss her next year in Oxford."

You can read and share tributes to Catherine at http://stutteringtreatment.org/blog/catherine/