REGISTER HERE

Join us on April 6, 2021, at 7:15 pm for the next virtual meeting of the New York City Spasmodic Dysphonia Support Group. Our guest speaker will be Christie DeLuca, MS, CCC-SLP and her topic will be Communicative Freedom While Living with a Voice Disorder. She will lead a discussion on how those with a long-term voice disorder experience each of these effects uniquely, what you can do to minimize these, and what is important for others to know when learning about your voice disorder. 

Christie has used this term to describe the limitations in how a person with spasmodic dysphonia or a similar voice disorder is able to freely use their voice to communicate in the desired way. Communicative freedom can be viewed as the ability to say what you want, when you want, how you want to. The blocks to communicative freedom for those with a long-term voice disorder can be physiological limitations, where you feel that the voice breaks, strain, or lack of volume inhibit your ability to have others hear or understand what you say. These communicative limitations can also result from negative emotions surrounding speaking, like embarrassment of the voice sound, fear of others’ perceptions, or increased self-consciousness when speaking.  

Lack of communicative freedom can look like changing words to avoid voice breaks or strain, focusing more on the mechanics of speech than the actual message, choosing not to speak up due to effort or the assumption that others will not hear you, choosing to avoid speaking because of anticipated negative responses from others, or saying words that come out with a different tone than you intended (leading others to ask if you’re sick, nervous, or annoyed when you are not).  

These are all “under the surface” symptoms, meaning others may not fully understand these experienced effects at first glance.  

About Christie DeLuca, MS, CCC-SLP Christie DeLuca is a Speech Language Pathologist and Clinical Voice Specialist. She received her Master’s degree at New York University and completed her Clinical Fellowship at the Mount Sinai Grabscheid Voice and Swallowing Center in NYC. Christie currently works as a Voice Specialist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and additionally treats individuals with spasmodic dysphonia and other voice disorders through teletherapy in her private practice, Speaking Boldly. Christie has presented her research at several national voice and speech conferences, including the National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association Symposiums, and has shared clinical knowledge at NSDA patient support groups. She has promoted education on voice disorders through informational webinars, handouts, and blog posts and she helps to educate future speech pathologists as an adjunct professor of Voice Disorders at NYU. Christie continues to conduct research on patient perceptions of the impact of spasmodic dysphonia. Christie has spasmodic dysphonia herself, which gives her a unique insight into living with a voice disorder.

JOINING IS EASY! Register HERE
You’ll receive a confirmation email containing a link to join the meeting at its scheduled time.

WHEN
Tuesday, April 6, 2021

TIME
7:15 PM ET
Sign-in a few minutes prior to the meeting to make sure video and audio is working properly.

This virtual session will be hosted utilizing Zoom, an online meeting platform. You can participate via video or audio. This meeting is password protected to ensure your privacy.

We hope to “see” you there!

HOSTS
Adrienne Simons | NYC SD Support Group Leader | ahsimons@verizon.net
Christie DeLuca, MS, CCC-SLP | cjd414@nyu.edu