Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Health & Society

NBA Player Shares Personal Experience With Stuttering With CSD Students

Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Dan Bernardi
Share
College of Arts and Sciences
Students walking into Grant Auditorium for CSD 450/650 Clinical Seminar last semester saw a celebrity instead of their usual professor. National Basketball Association (NBA) player Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was visiting the class to give the students a unique perspective on both their profession and on their future patients. His visit to Syracuse University, hosted by the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) in the College of Arts and Sciences, also included a tour of the department’s Gebbie Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic and Professor Victoria Tumanova’s stuttering research lab.

NBA player Michael Kidd-Gilchrest with students

Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (center, back row) with students from the CSD 450/650 Clinical Seminar.

Although he is best known for his athletic abilities—he most recently played for the Dallas Mavericks—Kidd-Gilchrist was here on an educational mission. As a person who stutters, he wants the practitioners of tomorrow to understand the experiences and needs of those who stutter today.

Like many of us during the first year of the pandemic, Kidd-Gilchrist spent time thinking about his values and his life. While inside the NBA bubble in 2020, he decided to use his personal journey as a catalyst to help others. Kidd-Gilchrist then started his “Change & Impact” foundation as a means of sharing his unique perspective with the next generation of speech therapists and to also advocate for better insurance coverage for speech therapy for stuttering. Now, he regularly speaks at colleges and universities that offer speech-language pathology and audiology programs and also speaks at camps and conferences related to stuttering.

At a previous event at the University of Florida, Kidd-Gilchrist noted, “At first, I didn’t want anyone to know about my stutter. When I entered speech therapy, I told my therapist that I didn’t want anyone to know. Today, I want to share my story and see my stutter as a gift that I have embraced because now I can help others, including those who are getting into the field of speech-language pathology.”

Indeed, Meaghan Doyle ’23, a CSD and neuroscience major, gained a different and helpful perspective on stuttering from his talk in Syracuse. “Everyone has their ‘something,’ with [Michael’s] ‘something’ being stuttering,” Doyle says. “I liked how he said that it doesn’t define you.”

Erica Bliss, a senior dual major in CSD and psychology, emphasized the importance of Kidd-Gilchrist’s advocacy as an important part of stuttering treatment. Clients who stutter do not always have the access and support they need to succeed. “We need to help grow [these services],” she says. Bliss plans to apply this perspective throughout her career to help her future clients adequately reach their goals.

Like the many other CSD students in attendance, Brittnee Jean ’23 appreciated Kidd-Gilchrist’s vulnerability when talking about his experience with stuttering. She hopes to be able to achieve a similar relationship with her future clients. “My favorite part was when Michael said he felt like [his speech-language pathologist] wasn’t trying to change [him],” says Jean.

Michael Kidd-Gilchrest visit to Gebbie

Kidd-Gilchrist visited the Gebbie Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic for a tour.

At the same time, Kidd-Gilchrist acknowledged that stuttering presents significant challenges for those affected by it, and it was important to him that people who stutter have access to speech therapy. He also spoke about the importance of the clinician-client relationship to the success of the therapy process.

“Being able to truly listen and have empathy for your client is instrumental in building a good therapeutic relationship,” says Victoria Tumanova, associate professor of communication sciences and disorders, who arranged Kidd-Gilchrist’s visit. “Michael spoke movingly about his personal experience in speech therapy and what made it a success. A strong bond with his speech therapist helped him go from avoiding talking to speaking up. Hearing that has inspired and motivated our students to go out and do the same with their future clients.”

A future practitioner agreed. Thanks to Kidd-Gilchrist’s courage in sharing his story, CSD major Chloe Crowley notes, “As speech-language pathologists, we [will] have the power to change someone’s life for the better.” Working together, the client and the therapist can be the best kind of dream team.

  • Author

Dan Bernardi

  • Recent
  • Syracuse Stage Hosts Inaugural Julie Lutz New Play Festival
    Wednesday, May 28, 2025, By News Staff
  • Timur Hammond’s ‘Placing Islam’ Receives Journal’s Honorable Mention
    Tuesday, May 27, 2025, By News Staff
  • Expert Available to Discuss DOD Acceptance of Qatari Jet
    Thursday, May 22, 2025, By Vanessa Marquette
  • Syracuse University 2025-26 Budget to Include Significant Expansion of Student Financial Aid
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025, By News Staff
  • Light Work Opens New Exhibitions
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025, By News Staff

More In Health & Society

Timur Hammond’s ‘Placing Islam’ Receives Journal’s Honorable Mention

A book authored by Timur Hammond, associate professor of geography and the environment in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, received an honorable mention in the 2025 International Journal of Islamic Architecture (IJIA) Book Award competition. The awards…

Snapshots From Route 66: One Student’s Journey to Newhouse LA

“If you ever plan to travel west, travel my way, take the highway that’s the best.” It’s been nearly 80 years since Nat King Cole uttered the now famous lyrics, “Get your kicks on Route 66,” but still to this…

Studying and Reversing the Damaging Effects of Pollution and Acid Rain With Charles Driscoll (Podcast)

Before Charles Driscoll came to Syracuse University as a civil and environmental engineering professor, he had always been interested in ways to protect our environment and natural resources. Growing up an avid camper and outdoors enthusiast, Driscoll set about studying…

Major League Soccer’s Meteoric Rise: From Underdog to Global Contender

With the 30th anniversary of Major League Soccer (MLS) fast approaching, it’s obvious MLS has come a long way from its modest beginning in 1996. Once considered an underdog in the American sports landscape, the league has grown into a…

Rebekah Lewis Named Director of Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs is pleased to announce that Rebekah Lewis is the new director of the Maxwell-based Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health. She joined the Maxwell School as a faculty fellow…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.