Episode 98 - Interview with speech pathologist Dr Georgie Johnson

Transcript

Jen (00:00:21)

Hello, everybody. It is time for another episode of Let's Talk SciComm, which is one of my very, very favorite places to be. And that is in no small part 'cause it means I get to hang out with one of my very favorite people.

Hello, Michael.

Michael (00:00:37)

Hey, Jen. It's also one of my favorite places to be. Fancy meeting you here.

Jen (00:00:41)

Yeah, just fancy, hey?

As the year draws to a close and everyone gets tighter and tighter, isn't it nice that we can hang out and talk to amazing people together?

Michael (00:00:51)

That's right.

Jen (00:00:53)

So today we do have someone pretty amazing. And we have had a lot of scheduling mishaps in lining up our recording with today's guest.

One of the reasons, mostly it was 'cause of us, Michael, let's be honest. But one of the reasons was because she lost her voice, which we thought was very ironic because the person we're speaking to today, Dr. Georgie Johnson, is actually a speech pathologist. So we couldn't help but having a little chuckle when poor Georgie lost her voice. But we're very excited that we've managed to align planets and calendars and be together today.

So Georgie has great expertise in stuttering, which is something that I think is going to be super fascinating to learn more about.

So she actually completed an arts degree originally with a double major in French and psychology, but then went on to study a master's degree in speech pathology and recently completed her PhD. So huge congratulations to Georgie. And the PhD was focused on stuttering.

And she's currently the Director for the Stuttering Association for Young Australia and has worked in pediatric speech pathology in quite a few different capacities, including with the Department of Education.

But these days, happily, she's one of our colleagues here at the University of Melbourne, involved with both teaching and research. So we'll definitely be asking about those.

But I guess there's three clear reasons why I'm so excited to have Georgie on the podcast.

Firstly, just because she's an experienced science communicator. She's done a lot of communicating about her area of expertise. And so I'm sure she's got lots of great advice to share with us about how you communicate about a topic like stuttering with different audiences.

But also because, you know, a lot of us involved in science communication do a lot of talking. And so I'd really like to be able to pick Georgie's brains about all the things she knows as a speech pathologist, about how we can take better care of our voices.

But of course, thirdly, without question, some of you listening will stutter or have a friend or family member who stutters. And I think it's something we all need to learn more about.

So thank you, Georgie. We're so glad you have your voice back and we're so happy to be chatting with you today.

Georgie (00:03:02)

Thank you. I really appreciate it.

And yes, it's so nice to have our calendars and planets aligned to be able to talk today.

So it was nice to have a bit of a chuckle, even though I had no voice. It's always, you’ve got to find the light in these situations, don't you?

Jen (00:03:16)

Yes.

Michael (00:03:17)

Absolutely.

I'm really excited to chat with you Georgie as well, you know, especially around your work with kids and parents.

'Cause I've got an 18 month at home now and he's just learning to speak. And you know, I'm just wondering whether the fact that he says "pasty" instead of "pasta", and I just think that's the cutest thing ever.

So I say, "Would you like some more pasty?" You know, I just want to know, am I doing the wrong thing?

Georgie (00:03:44)

Oh, and it's so fun. We get so many... Just lovely things that come into the clinic that then become you know, family folklore almost.

And these wonderful words like "pasty" for "pasta" become something that you still talk to your child about when they're 18 or their 21st birthday speech. So no problem there, yes.

Michael (00:03:53)

Oh, that's good. That's a great idea. I should write that one down now.

Jen (00:04:04)

Full disclosure here, my 16 year old son, my favourite word that he made up was instead of calling those beautiful pink birds "flamingos", he called them "maflingos".

So in my family, they're called "maflingos". It's just a great word, right?

Georgie (00:04:15)

Oh, excellent. Exactly, that's so much fun.

And it does, it makes fun and language is fun.
And hearing the different things kids say is lots of fun.

Jen (00:04:27)

Yeah, absolutely.

So Georgie, I do want to start by going back to how you got interested in speech pathology in the first place.

I'm kind of guessing that it was more your passion for psychology than your passion for French that led you down that path, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it was the beautiful French language. I don't know.

How did you get into speech pathology?

Georgie (00:04:46)

Yes. I think, like I was always one of those kids. And Jen, I feel like I've heard you talk about this before, like a very inquiring child.

Like the what if? Why do I have to eat my carrots? Why are they good for your eyes? Why? Why this, why that?

So I've always loved science, but I've always loved humanities. So that's why I did the arts degree and then also loving of psychology.

And speech pathology is just one of those amazing careers that's hybrid and it combines you know, anatomy and physiology and as well as language communication. There's psychology in the mix. Acoustics, linguistics, so many different areas.

So I think it really took me as, Oh, wow, there's such a breadth of what I can get into here and what I can learn that really drew me to it. So that was sort of how I started out on the journey.

And then along the way, and this is coming back to I guess, good communication and why I got into stuttering specifically is I had a lecturer at uni who just beautifully conveyed the space and the research and clinical experiences. And I thought, Yes, that is something that I could be passionate about and get into.

So that's where I've sort of landed, I guess, as a speech pathologist and a keen interest on stuttering research.

Jen (00:05:54)

And I have to ask, is French part of the story at all?

Like, is your love of language and your knowledge of kind of how we use our mouths differently in different languages. Like, is that part of it?

Georgie (00:06:05)

I actually, I've never thought of it as part of it, but I think you're absolutely right. Like, I just love languages and thinking about it as a way of, you know, how people communicate differently.

And that can be through even non-verbals. Like if you go overseas, you know, we always have that tokenistic view that Italians always use their hands, for example.

But looking at lots of differences in that way and how different people communicate, not just through spoken language, but whether it's non-verbal language as well, I've always had a fascination in that.

So French, I do have family background. So I have French in my blood. So I just sort of continued that.

But definitely, I think I just love language and communication.

Michael (00:06:45)

Yeah, it's a really fascinating topic.

And you spent a number of years working as a clinician. And then you decided to launch into a PhD, which is I guess, a challenge. A PhD is always a bit of an unknown. You know, it's an individual journey for everyone.

And I'd love to know a little bit about the motivation behind that decision when you were already working, established as a clinician. Why did you want to do a PhD and what did you focus on?

Georgie (00:07:12)

Mostly 'cause I'm crazy, I think. No, no. I think it's a wonderful experience.

Now that I'm at the other side of it, it's funny when you ask PhD students at what point in their journey they're up to as to what the response is.

Jen (00:07:26)

Yes, indeed.

Georgie (00:07:31)

But I'm at the other side now.

So working clinically, I think for me. So my kind of area of interest and where I've studied is the school age group. And working clinically, I started to get clients coming into the clinic or the families coming into the clinic and realising and asking supervisors and mentors as I was starting out, you know, what would be best practice for these particular clients and their families?

And there just wasn't a lot of research. So there was this gap and this interest, which I think just was the perfect recipe. And a wonderful supervisor, Elaina Kefalianos at the Ed Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology at Melbourne Uni. And they were just the stars that aligned that got me really interested.

And self-professed nerd. I just like research and I love studying. So that really worked well for me.

Michael (00:08:14)

Yeah. What did you find?

Georgie (00:08:16)

So my particular PhD was, I did a trial and I used a preschool treatment that we know is really effective for the young kiddies to help reduce their stuttering or minimise or eliminate their stuttering when they're young. So I did a trial with that treatment with older school aged children to see whether that could be effective and a strong option to choose.

And we did actually find that it was effective not only to reduce their stuttering, but we also found some psychosocial benefits. So anxiety symptoms reduced and we found sort of impact of stuttering, those sort of psychosocial measures reduced as well.

So that's a paper we're writing up at the moment 'cause we found that's even more interesting than the fact that the stuttering reduced in response to the treatment.

Jen (00:09:00)

Yeah, that sounds like a super important finding.

And Georgie, tell us how widespread a diagnosis is stuttering?
Is it very common, not very common? I don't know.

Georgie (00:09:10)

So interesting. So about 80 million people in the world stutter.

So what's very challenging is that stuttering is something that can be concealed by just not talking. So there could be lots of people out there who do stutter, but perhaps they've found ways to hide that or conceal that.

And that's where that psychological element can be really important to address as a clinician to ensure that you know, mental health supports are in place.

But back thinking about children, about one in 10 children will begin to stutter by four years of age. So it's sort of on par with like asthma in Australia. So it is quite common for children to start stuttering, but a lot of children will stop stuttering either with treatment or they'll just spontaneously stop stuttering.

So yeah, they're the rates I guess in Australia.

Jen (00:09:59)

So that's very, very common.

Georgie (00:10:01)

Yes, yes.

Jen (00:10:02)

And I'm guessing potentially it could be even higher. But as you said, people are very skilled at masking and not making it obvious.

Georgie (00:10:11)

Correct, absolutely. And fortunately at the moment with a lot of you know, acceptance of difference, particularly that neurodiversity movement at the moment, there's a lot more work going into stuttering identity and thinking about accepting stuttering as well.

So treatments are sort of swinging between whether a person wishes their goal to be to stop stuttering or whether they want some support to feel comfortable as a person who stutters.

And that's just part of who they are and finding comfort in that as society I guess, is becoming more accepting that everyone is different and everyone has strengths in different areas, yeah.

Jen (00:10:50)

Wow, that must be a whole paradigm shift in your field.

Please tell me if I'm wrong, but I could imagine that in years gone by, the absolute goal was always to try and get rid of the stutter.

And it's, must be very different now to be thinking that actually that, why should that be the goal?

Georgie (00:11:07)

Absolutely. And conferences at the moment are fascinating because there's people that are on very opposite ends or two ends of that sort of spectrum.

And then people like myself that look at why can't we have both or think about what the person actually wants rather than us sort of projecting on what we think.

But definitely there's been a big change in the field looking at trying to be more person-centered. What is it that the person would like to achieve rather than sort of projecting goals on other people?

So it's an interesting space and yeah, lots of discussion at conferences that I've been at this year too.

Jen (00:11:40)

How interesting. So I'm really keen then to hear more about... Obviously in your work, you spend a lot of time talking with both children and presumably their carers about stuttering. What have you learned?

This is a sensitive topic. You've just talked about the anxiety, the challenges, presumably there's people feeling very vulnerable, facing up to and talking about this issue that might cause them a lot of concern.

What have you learned about talking about such a sensitive topic? And how different is it when you're talking with the child versus their carer?

Georgie (00:12:14)

Absolutely. And that's... another layer is the parent's wishes.

And every now and again, you do get children who want something and a parent who wants something else. And trying to navigate that discussion and thinking about what's best for the child and what they want. So that's really tricky.

And particularly because I work with school-aged children, they're starting to become or wanting to become a lot more independent from their parents. So they've got their own thoughts and ideas about what they want. But not that you know, fully developed prefrontal cortex to know what's the future, what the future holds and what decisions to make.

So that's why I really love the school-aged group. I do love working with preschoolers 'cause they come out with the funniest things. But school-aged children, I can ask them, you know, "What is it that you want? And what is that trajectory for you? What does that look like?"

So the balance, parents, child, and the clinician or clinical knowledge is a really interesting space. But I always do tend to come back to talking to the child. And even if it's that we start a treatment, checking in with them, understanding what do you like, what don't you like about what's going on. You know, what's happening at school?

And they become more of like an active participant in their treatment rather than just being a passive recipient of treatment and can make choices.

So it's lots of fun. And then I become the big kid in the clinic with the child and the parents, the observer. So that's always a bit fun.

Michael (00:13:36)

Yeah, no, that sounds really really rewarding as well. And you know, especially the fact that the kids can be participants in their own treatment.

And I suppose you know, you're having that dialogue with them and they're coming to you with ideas that they have perhaps about stuttering.

And I'm curious to ask you, are there myths out there or misconceptions that people have about stuttering that we need to know about?

Georgie (00:14:03)

Absolutely. And I think the biggest one that comes up a lot is that particularly for children, but adults as well, is that they can just stop and they can just stop doing it.

You know, if you tell your child, "just stop doing that". Or if you meet a child who stutters, that it's voluntary. But that is so not the case. And that does really sort of exacerbate that anxiety around stuttering.

And then what follows is all those misconceptions that a person who stutters is less intelligent or a person who stutters can't get their words out, therefore they are less than.

That's so not true. And there's been a lot of research to say that it's more that children might be withholding putting their hand up in class, or they might be avoiding talking with people in the playground because of that fear of stuttering publicly and the shame that comes with that, yeah.

Michael (00:14:48)

Yeah, and I'm guessing that avoidance is not going to be beneficial long-term.

And I'm imagining that those misconceptions and myths about stuttering probably don't help with the stigma around it as well.

And I know you've talked in the media about stuttering. What's your take on where the stigma is at at the moment? I mean, presumably it's still a problem, but is it getting better? Are we getting better at understanding stuttering? And is there still much more work that needs to be done?

Georgie (00:15:24)

I think, definitely. I think... Because I work a lot with that community and [have] adults who stutter who are friends of mine and not only that, but you know, working with kids who stutter, definitely I think there's a shift.

I can't speak on behalf of the community, I suppose. But I think culturally, a shift towards accepting that everyone has differences, whether that's strengths or challenges. I think that broadly culturally is shifting.

But I still have friends of mine that will go to a cafe and someone will say to them, "Why are you talking like that?" Or you know, "Can't you get your words out?" Or they'll interject or interrupt the person who stutters before they can get their coffee order out.

So it's still there, it's still happening. So hopefully the changes still are going in a positive direction.

Definitely with more recognition of stuttering I guess with Joe Biden, who I think if you've read in the media is a person who stutters. Or Ed Sheeran, he stuttered as well. So having people that are happy to talk about their experiences and seeing that publicly for a child to see wow, the president of America is a person who stutters. You know, that's pretty life-changing.

Michael (00:16:32)

Yeah.

Jen (00:16:33)

Yeah, I mean, it just strikes me that those role models must be really important. Because as you've just said, a child, nobody can just decide to stop.

So to know that there are people out there having these incredibly visible, successful lives that involve them talking or singing all the time, that must be pretty powerful.

Georgie (00:16:54)

Absolutely, yes. Very powerful for them to see, to hear and talk about. And that the conversation I suppose, continues to be positive is really important for them.

And I know you mentioned Jen, at the start in your wonderful introduction, I'm part of the Stuttering Association for the Young. Or we call it SAY, 'cause it's a lot less words to say, SAY Australia.

And we do a lot of work around the community support. Because a lot of children we meet have never met another person who stutters, and whether that's just because there's a lot of covert stutterers out there, but also that they just haven't come across a person who stutters.

So we're trying to do a lot of work in that space of you know, building community support. So they meet another kid who also speaks like them and the reward that comes from that, knowing that they're not alone and that there's other people that can share in their experiences too.

Jen (00:17:45)

And Georgie, how much of your job is providing treatment and an action plan and helping kids to understand that if you want to improve in this area, you can? And how much is it actually explaining what's going on?

'Cause I don't actually know. How much is this, is it physiological? How much is it what's going on neurologically in the brain?

I mean, are you doing like really hardcore science communicating with kids, explaining to them what's happening?

Georgie (00:18:11)

I definitely try to. And picking... 'Cause there are some kids that are really interested to know why is it that I speak the way I do, and my classmate who sits next to me speaks the way he does.

So I really kind of I guess, trying to communicate that in basic, basic terms. But the real challenge is there's a lot about stuttering we don't know, even though we've been studying it for decades, years, centuries.

You know it's, there's a lot of research out there. We know that there's a genetic basis to it. And we know that there's pathways in the brain that are responsible for speech, are just interrupted or not working in the same way as someone else's brain.

So I try and unpack that, or we might draw out a brain, or we might talk about it in that way if the child's sort of interested. And if they're not, we might get to that conversation and talk about it. But yes, I kind of let the child lead that conversation as to whether they want to know more, I suppose.

Jen (00:19:06)

Yeah, I mean, as you said, some kids will want to know all about it.
And others will just want to know, "What can I do to try and change this?" So...

Georgie (00:19:14)

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely right.

Jen (00:19:16)

So Georgie, I feel like before we start to run out of time, I can't resist asking you a little bit about your expertise as a speech pathologist more broadly.

As much as I find stuttering fascinating, and I feel like I want to understand it the best I can to support people you know, in my life who have that experience.

But I feel like everyone listening is going to want to know, please tell us. I know it's not your direct area of expertise, but what do we all need to know about how to look after our voices better? Please share your very best tips and advice.

Georgie (00:19:48)

Absolutely, can do. And yes, as you said Jen, it's not my area or field, and I haven't worked in that space.

But it is a question as speech pathologists that we do get a lot. Because whether you're a teacher, you know, a lecturer, or you're someone that just loves talking a lot, you can get to the end of the day and find that your voice is straining or you're having trouble maintaining it and you're getting a sore throat almost from lots of talking.

But there's definitely ways or things that you can do to try and sort of protect your voice or look after it. And you prompted the first one there with the glass of water, Jen.

Jen (00:20:21)

Yes!

Georgie (00:20:21)

Lots of water is a very good thing to do before you're doing lots of [talking]. You're already onto it. You're doing a great job.

Jen (00:20:28)

Gold Star for me.

Georgie (00:20:29)

Yes, water. Oh, very good. Michael's onto it as well. Very good. So yes, having water and making sure that you're keeping hydrated throughout the day.

Because to get really technical and into the anatomy, our vocal folds or where the sound is actually being made to make our voices, we need to have that sort of nicely lubricated I suppose to, in order for that voice function to be at its best. So water, number one, that's a really good one.

But also thinking about the vocal tract and thinking about the muscles, there are lots of sort of warmup exercises that people can do with their voices. So you might see with singers, they do all those interesting, weird and wonderful bits and pieces to warm up for theatre and things like that if they're singing.

A lot of that can actually be done if you did that 5 to 10 minutes. Let's say you've got a big presentation or you're lecturing for four hours or something like that. Some of those warmup exercises, getting your vocal folds nicely warmed up can be hugely beneficial to not getting that really strained or sore muscles around your throat after you've been talking for a long time.

So that's another area, if people are interested to look at exercises, it's not hard to find different drills and sounds and things that you can do to try and protect your voice.

So hopefully there's some hot takes that people can leave today listening to that might be helpful.

Jen (00:21:47)

Michael, I think we need a new routine now.

Before we start any podcast recording, we need to do some of the really fun vocal warmups that yeah, my daughter does a lot of singing. I know all sorts of cool warmups that her singing teacher taught her.

Georgie (00:21:59)

Perfect, yes. Well, those sort of things would be great.

Michael (00:22:03)

I'll be keen to try it, Jen. I'll be keen to try it because you know, going into four hours of lecturing, your voice is hurting at the end of that sometimes.

Jen (00:22:05)

Alright, let's do it.

Georgie (00:22:09)

It is.

Michael (00:22:10)

Yeah, yeah. Georgie, I'm really really curious to ask about nature versus nurture in terms of stuttering. You did mention there's a genetic component. I presume there's also a nurture component? There might be, you know, things that people can do at home if they've got kids. I've heard creating a language-rich environment is important.

And I see you nodding, so I'm going to continue with my question there.

So if a language-rich environment is important, how do you see digital technologies potentially disrupting that? Because you know, I can almost imagine it two ways.

You know, if kids are getting a lot of screen time, maybe they're watching lots of different kind of YouTube videos, perhaps they're exposed to more variety of language, but maybe they're not getting the same quality as if they were having those quality interactions with their parents. So what are your thoughts on that?

Georgie (00:23:08)

Yes, such an interesting area and ever-evolving as you know, all the technologies are evolving. And you do see it a lot. Kids love the devices. And I know it's such a huge challenge in parents that come into clinic.

Is a question that they have, not just around yeah, around stuttering, but around early child development with language, with social skills, and all kinds of skills that children need as they're growing up.

And the devices really can be a help and a hindrance, I suppose. You know, there's lots of sort of language-rich things that children can watch and do and use on a device like an iPad or on a TV.

But then there's also that, as I was saying before, the social skills. So there is an element there that they're missing. I guess that human interaction and skills with reading emotions on their communication partner's face. That's not a cartoon, it's a real human.

So there is an element there that, whilst there's a place I suppose for technology. Because I think we're in it for the ride. I don't think it's going anywhere. So we have to learn to use it and enjoy it.

But definitely, as you said, a language-rich environment, but also that interaction I guess, in the environment is really important for kids too.

Michael (00:24:16)

Yeah, that makes sense. So content matters, but also language is a two-way thing.

Georgie (00:24:22)

Yes.

Michael (00:24:22)

It's about what you're exposed to and it's about what you're practicing and what you're saying.
Yeah, that's really interesting.

Jen (00:24:29)

So Georgie, for anyone who's listening, who is looking for support, a community group, more advice, more information about stuttering, is there somewhere that they can go?

Georgie (00:24:38)

Yes, absolutely. So as you mentioned before and I mentioned before, I'm part of the Stuttering Association for the Young, or SAY Australia, which you can Google, Stuttering Association for the Young, or SAY Australia. And we run free programs throughout the year. They're creative arts programs and they're designed for young people who stutter just to come along, to be themselves, and to meet other young people who stutter.

So those programs are free and anyone can join to meet a community group and just feel a sense of connectedness and enjoy being around people who are there to listen to what they say, not how they say it.

And we do run an annual summer camp. So we are doing that in January, which is a lot of fun. I get to fly along a flying fox and try not to scream and make a fool of myself.

But that's an amazing experience where we get about 30-odd kids that come together. We go out to the middle of nowhere in the beautiful bush of Australia and we're just there to hang out and just listen and enjoy the space with a group of people who stutter.

Jen (00:25:40)

Wow, that sounds like an incredibly important community.

Michael (00:25:44)

Yeah, it's such a fascinating space and I feel like we could continue asking you lots of questions about it. Maybe we'll just have to get you back Georgie, you know, in the future.

Georgie (00:25:54)

Yeah.

Michael (00:25:56)

But before we let you go, we do, we would like to shift gears a little bit and round out the interview with some quick questions.

So the first question that I would like to ask is, if you could pick an alternative career to the one that you're on, what would it be?

Georgie (00:26:19)

Ooh, what would it be?

I think I would have really enjoyed maybe something like journalism or you know, you're still doing a lot of research and learning about a particular topic.

Jen (00:26:29)

You would have been an amazing newsreader.
Maybe that can still be your...

Georgie (00:26:31)

Oh, thank you.

Jen (00:26:32)

Maybe that can still be your future.

Such beautiful enunciation.

Georgie (00:26:37)

Thank you.

I do get a lot of people saying, when I tell them I'm a speech pathologist, they say, "Oh gosh, don't judge my speech." Or, "I hope you're not judging how I'm communicating".

I promise you I'm not, I promise I'm not.

Jen (00:26:49)

You don't come across as very judgy, so all good.

Georgie (00:26:53)

Very good.

Jen (00:26:54)

Georgie, our second quick question is, if you could choose to have a superpower, what superpower would you choose?

Georgie (00:27:00)

I love my sports and I've always wanted to have speed. I think if I could run around really fast and then tie that into getting all the chores done around the house in super fashion, I think that would come in handy.

Jen (00:27:13)

We'll invite you over once you perfect that.

Michael (00:27:16)

That'd be great.

Georgie (00:27:16)

Excellent. Happy to do it. Yes, happy to.

Michael (00:27:16)

All right, Georgie, if you could go back in time and give yourself a message at the age of 21, what would you say to yourself?

Georgie (00:27:24)

I think I would tell myself just to be present and really take in what's going on around you at that age.

Just taking that moment to pause and be present in the life stage that you're in. I would have loved to have told my 21-year-old self that.

And not to worry, but of course that's not really, that's not really great advice anymore. There's so many things to worry about in the world.

Jen (00:27:47)

I feel like that is good advice for any age though.

I feel like no matter what age you are, you probably look back and think, Oh, if only I'd been more present when I was you know, five years younger.

So we should tell ourselves that today, I think.

Georgie (00:27:57)

Yes, yes, absolutely.

Jen (00:28:01)

Okay Georgie, what do you think makes a good leader?

Georgie (00:28:04)

Ooh, a good leader, I think is someone who can really work well in a team and be able to drive the ship, I think, and have those great interpersonal connections with everybody that they're working with in order to steer that ship and get things done.

But yeah, I always come back to communication. I'm probably a bit biased in that, but I think if you're a good communicator and you can chat with your team in a really effective way, I think that makes for a good leader.

Michael (00:28:30)

No, we agree, you know, communication is...

Jen (00:28:32)

We share your bias.

Georgie (00:28:35)

Very good.

Michael (00:28:31)

Very biased. We think it's the foundation of lots of important other skills and activities that you do.

Georgie (00:28:41)

Yes.

Michael (00:28:42)

And it actually leads very nicely into the last question that I would like to ask as well.

So it's a very good segue because you know, you're out there, you're doing a lot of communication, you're doing a lot of science communication.

And I'd love to ask, what is your top tip for communicating effectively about science?

Georgie (00:28:59)

Great one. Now, I have... I've thought about this and I tried to write some things down.

So if I can be very bold and have two, I've got two that I would like to talk to.

Jen (00:29:06)

Go for it.

Michael (00:29:07)

We'll let you.

Georgie (00:29:19)

Thank you.

So my first one is speech rate. I think that you can get really nervous when you're presenting or when you're trying to convey a topic. But thinking about the pace at which you're talking, I think just changing that and slowing things down can be a really easy way to communicate a message and make sure that your audience is digesting I guess, what you're saying.

And the second thing that I would sort of think about too is being able to tell a story. So I think if you're trying to communicate a concept or even if you're just presenting something, you've got slides. I often start with, "Here's what I'm going to talk about", and then end with, "Here's what I did talk about", and then go through the story throughout the middle.

So they're my two tips, I suppose.

Jen (00:29:53)

I think they are mighty fine tips.

Well Georgie, it has been a massive pleasure to speak with you today.

I'm so delighted that we all have our voices today and that we've learned quite a bit I think about just thinking about, yeah, the privilege to have a voice and how to use it well and how to look after it and the fact that you're studying something as important as stuttering is just really fantastic.

So thank you for the work that you do and thank you for making the time to share it with us. We really appreciate it.

Georgie (00:30:22)

Thank you. Thank you so much, Jen. And thank you so much, Michael.
It's been a pleasure.

Michael (00:30:26)

Thank you, Georgie.
Yeah, it's been a pleasure.

Jen (00:30:49)

Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Let's Talk SciComm from the University of Melbourne Science Communication Teaching Team. I'm Associate Professor Jen Martin and my brilliant cohost is Dr Michael Wheeler.

Michael (00:31:03)

And if you've enjoyed listening to this episode, we'd love you to share it with your friends and family. We'd love you to share your favourite episode online. And you can find us at LetsTalkSciComm on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Jen (00:31:17)

And this season, we are asking for your help to spread the word so that more people find out about our podcast.

So if you enjoy listening, we would love you to tell a friend, but we'd also love you to think about taking a couple of minutes to write us a review.

Whatever platform you listen on, there will be a place for you to leave a review. And we're going to keep track and award our favourite reviewees some prizes.

We're thinking about some merch. And we'd also love to reward our favourite review with a free science communication workshop that we will run for you in person or online, depending on whereabouts you are.

Michael (00:31:53)

Ooh, prizes. And if... They sound great. And if you'd like to get in touch to suggest a guest or a future topic, we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at lets.talk.scicomm@gmail.com. And as always, a huge thank you to our production team Stephanie Wong and Steven Tang.