Friday, November 14, 2008

Blog from research team

The research team at the Brain Imaging Lab of Columbia University, New York State Psychiatric Institute, had an interesting new idea, namely to create an Internet blog which aims to inform and recruit stuttering adults and children for brain imaging studies and reporting on its findings. I have already written this post on them. It is always great to have new independent team working on the neurosciences of stuttering, and please if you live in the area get in contact with them and get them in touch with self-help groups.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I contacted Columbia University but they declined to offer me participation on the grounds that English is not my native language.

Michele said...

Hello! I'm the research coordinator for the study, and I just wanted to clear this up. All of the neuropsychological testing materials for the study require that the testee be a native English speaker. This is based on how the tests are normed and how scaled scores are created, unfortunately. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Anonymous said...

Michele, understood. I was only trying to inform others who might have been interested in this testing that the tests is being carried out for Native English speakers.

Anonymous said...

Michelle, I don't understand...
You said neuropsychological testing material....and the only requirement is native English speaker (does this include Britians?)

Please let me know...thanks

ig88sir said...

Hello, I took part in the study and it was painless. The staff were very professional and easy to work with. I recommend anyone in the area help them out in thier study. Yes, the Dude Abides!

Michele said...

There are other eligibility requirements for the study, such as history of prior head trauma,etc. These details, along with the question of one's native language, are covered during the initial screening conversation. When we speak of English as a native language, it relates mostly to certain tests which ask questions related to vocabulary. If one were non-native speaking, there may be confusion as to how these words are being "translated" into English, so to speak. Different dialects within the English language are not a barrier.

I hope this was somewhat helpful. Please let me know if anyone has any further questions!

Michele Callahan
(212)543-6287