The Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research (the Blank Center), first established in 2020 at The University of Texas at Austin (UT) Moody College of Communication, has opened its first satellite location in Atlanta, funded by a $12.25 million grant from The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. The Blank Center, founded and led by Dr. Courtney Byrd, who has been building a stuttering program at UT since 2003, advances understanding about the nature and effective treatment of stuttering, globally scales evidence-based programming to treat children, teenagers and adults at no cost, and creates a pipeline of expert clinicians and researchers to make quality, effective treatment accessible to all people. 

The Atlanta satellite will scale the work of the Blank Center, which was established in 2020 with an initial $20 million legacy grant from the Blank Family Foundation. The Atlanta location is currently open at 1605 Chantilly Drive NE and will be permanently housed at the new Arthur M. Blank Hospitalat Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, scheduled to open in 2025.

Stuttering has genetically been part of Blank’s family for several generations. He, too, is a person who stutters who previously attempted treatment to improve fluency.   

“Partnering with Dr. Byrd and The University of Texas’ Moody College is truly a gift to me. I am a stutterer, and stuttering has genetically been part of my family for as long as I can remember,” said Arthur M. Blank, chairman, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. “Stuttering has no bounds and no bias; it impacts people of all ages and from all walks of life. I’m thrilled to see this center come to life and be able to serve the people of Atlanta and this region. The partnership allows for satellite centers to be established across the United States and for Dream. Speak. Live. camps throughout the world, and we look forward to the positive impact they will have on people’s lives for many years to come.”

While traditional treatment for stuttering is focused on fluency, the Blank Center locations will apply Byrd’s pioneering scientifically-grounded, whole-person therapeutic approach that helps children, teenagers and adults grow as confident, effective communicators. During the next decade, additional satellite centers will be established nationally, and Byrd’s signature intensive treatment program, Camp Dream. Speak. Live., will be launched in several new countries, including Nigeria, South Africa, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Malta, Pakistan, Norway and Mexico. The Blank Centers will also provide education for students and clinicians so that they are equipped to serve people who stutter.

“Our approach empowers children and adults around the world to embrace their stuttering and to understand that their ability to pursue their dreams should not be defined by whether or not they stutter when they speak,” said Dr. Courtney Byrd, founding and executive director, The Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research. “We are excited to open our doors in Atlanta, and we are dedicated to changing as many lives as we can. We are beyond honored to do so with Arthur Blank, a pre-eminent philanthropist, and, importantly, someone who is also a person who stutters.”

 Byrd’s treatment model targets core communication competencies, such as maintaining eye contact, particularly during moments of stuttering, using voice and gestures to emphasize meaning, and engaging listeners with positive demeanor. Also critical to the treatment is mindfulness, acceptance and self-compassion, as well as learning how to share that you are a person who stutters in a way that minimizes stereotype threat and stuttering on purpose to promote desensitization to stuttering.

Byrd, her clinical research team, and undergraduate and graduate level researchers have served thousands of children, teenagers and adults who stutter, and their families. Their quantitative and qualitative outcomes indicate: increased communication competence and confidence across general speaking situations and situations unique to their everyday life, increased positive perception in their ability to establish peer-to-peer relationships, increased ability to understand, educate and advocate for themselves and others who stutter, increased societal insight and acceptance of stuttering, increased mindfulness, resilience, self-compassion, and hope for their future, and increased quality of life.