1. DIRECTED RESEARCH
Ray Mancini | Prof. Tom Klinkowstein

2. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
Most modern speech therapies have deficiencies,
and no single technique works for everyone
suffering from disfluency.
Can design thinking possibly form the foundation
for a new, holistic method of therapy?

3. HYPOTHESIS
This thesis presents the hypothesis that design thinking may offer a partial
solution to deficiencies in modern day speech therapies.
In contrast to current stuttering approaches, which often set unrealistic
expectations of perfection or focus on only one area for improvement,
design thinking examines a problem holistically and promotes
experimentation. Using human-centered design and a multi-disciplinary,
“T-shaped” team, a robust system of speech disfluency evaluation and
therapeutic implementation could be created.
Such research and comparison could bring interdisciplinary insight into
understanding and circumventing the limited verbal communication of
stutterers.

4. DEFICIENCY / DESIGN COMPARISONS
DEFICIENCY Expectation of perfection.
DESIGN Mistakes are aesthetically desirable.
DEFICIENCY Narrow treatment focus.
DESIGN Look at all aspects of a problem (context, history, environment) to achieve
a successful solution.
DEFICIENCY No streamlining/filtering of spoken content.
DESIGN Simplify a larger message to its focused essence.
DEFICIENCY Many “one-size-fits-all” approaches.
DESIGN Every problem needs a unique approach.
DEFICIENCY Limitations will never allow “normal” communication.
DESIGN
Limitations force us to be creative and explore different techniques to
communicate effectively.

5. RESEARCH OUTLINE

6. 1 : Overview
What is adult stuttering and speech disfluency?
• scientific definition
• statistics
• social and cultural relevance / stigma
My story as a stutterer
• Description of my stutter from childhood until now
• Therapies, techniques utilized by me, and their general results
• Adapting to a life with an impairment (positives and negatives)
My story as a designer
• The creative spark - becoming a designer
• The need for expression outside of verbal communication

7. 2 : Problem / Hypothesis
Define the Problem & Hypothesis

8. 3 : Speech Therapies
1. Introduction to & descriptions of the main speech therapy approaches
• Delayed Auditory Feedback and Anti-stuttering devices
• Medication
• Fluency Shaping
• Stress / Iowa Therapies / Psychotherapy
2. General Deficiencies Associated with each therapy approach
3. Overall Deficiencies in all Therapies

9. 4 : Design Thinking
1. What is design thinking?
• Define design thinking (Tim Brown, Roger Martin)
2. The three spaces of innovation as defined by Tim Brown
• Inspiration, Ideation, Implementation
3. Human-centered design
• Insight, observation, and empathy
4. “Smart Teams” and brainstorming
• How multidisciplinary, ”T-shaped” teams can be useful
5. Scenarios and creating a narrative “story”
5. Getting users to act as “Design Thinkers”
• build on behaviors familiar to them
• engage users to act as active participants in their own stories

10. 5 : Ideation Phase
1. The current state of stuttering evaluation and therapy
• Analysis of evaluation models and parameters currently used by therapists
• Analysis of other approaches and theories
2. Human-centered observation and insight
• Interview and discuss approaches with therapists and stutterers, finding out
how they current administer and utilize therapy.
• Interview and discuss experiences of adult stutterers, seeking insight into how
they react to therapy, and their own stuttering.
3. Multi-disciplinary “Smart” team
• Form a team of varied individuals to brainstorm the resulting data and
observations, searching for meaningful patterns that can be utilized.
• Use convergent and divergent thinking to create and eliminate options.
4. Prototyping and Testing
• Work to create a new system of evaluation, getting feedback and revising until
it is satisfactory.

11. 6: Implementation
This section would illustrate how design thinking can “create” experiments
and exercises that will push stutterers towards improvements in the
revised “holistic therapy” categories...and within their own
traditional therapies.

12. 7 : Social Interaction, Community-based
support, & Progress Tracking
Combine all aspects of this new “holistic therapy”and all relevant
experiments into an interactive community, where individuals can
potentially chart their progress, receive support, and create a self-therapy
or augment their own traditional therapy.

13. RESEARCH SOURCES
SPEECH THERAPY
• National Stuttering Association (NSA)
• Stuttering Foundation of America
• British Stammering Association (BSA)
• Various Therapists
• Specific therapy cases
• My own current experiences and the experiences of others
INNOVATORS IN DESIGN THINKING
• IDEO - Tim Brown, David Kelley
• Roger Martin
DESIGN THEORIES / APPROACHES
1. T-shaped Designers
2. Transition Theory
3. Analytic vs. Intuitive Thinking
4. Other interdisciplinary applications of design thinking

14. INTERDISCIPLINARY INNOVATION
ADRIAN HILL
ARTIST, ART THERAPIST, EDUCATOR (1895-1977)
Discovered the therapeutic benefits of drawing
and painting while recovering from tuberculosis
Coined the term ‘art therapy’
Said the value of art therapy lay in ‘completely
engrossing the mind (as well as the fingers)
Suggested artistic work to his fellow inpatients,
who were documented in 1945 in a book, under
the title, “Art Versus Illness”

15. WIDENING ONE’S KNOWLEDGE BASE
TIM BROWN
CEO AND PRESIDENT OF IDEO
Spoke of “T-shaped People, individuals with a deep
skill set in their chosen field, plus a broader range of
interdisciplinary and social skills.
Able to explore insights from many different
perspectives and recognize patterns of behavior.

16. CONTINUOUS EXPERIMENTATION
MALCOLM FRASER
PHILANTHROPIST, BUSINESSMAN, STUTTERER (1903 - 1994)
Founded the Stuttering Foundation of America using
$10 million of his own money
Authored “Self-Therapy for the Stutterer”, providing
guidance for stutterers to help themselves without
conventional therapy.

17. VALORIZED DESIGNER #1
“The valorized designer should see design for its
major potential contribution to making the
quality of life richer and more sustainable.”
My thesis has the potential to alter the lives of
many stutterers, including myself. The final
output may be a new and unique addition to the
fields of design AND speech therapy.

18. VALORIZED DESIGNER #2
“It is important that (designers) see how the
ideas they are studying are changing: where the
ideas have come from, how they have changed,
and how they may develop.”
By studying historical and contemporary design
methodologies and speech therapies, I can arrive
at a well-informed solution for my thesis.

19. VALORIZED DESIGNER #3
“The valorized designer will be able to evaluate
design as an integral and integrated part of a
particular society.”
My thesis may potentially show how design
thinking can aid a very large group of people
afflicted with a severe limitation. This places
design in direct relation to a stuttering
community that may not yet be aware of
design’s potential to help them.

20. ADJACENT APPLICATIONS
Besides Speech Therapy, the hypothesis and
research presented here could possibly be
applied to other physical or mental disabilities.