Friends One-Day Events
CHOP Hub for Clinical Collaboration, 3500 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19104
About
Friends: One-Day Events includes presentations, small discussion groups, panel presentations, group activities, children’s programming, and family activities. The program also offers Break the Blocks Improv for teens and tweens who stutter, as well as workshops, panels, sessions led by highly esteemed researchers, keynote speakers, and open mics. In addition to in-person events, Friends offers a virtual adults group, virtual parent groups in English and Spanish, a virtual teen group, and a virtual kids group.
• Ages: 6–18 years old
• Schedule: One-day events run from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and the annual convention is a three-day event from Thursday at 1:00 PM to Saturday at 11:00 PM
Friends is a 501(c)(3) national nonprofit organization that was founded in 1997. Friends is the only national nonprofit organization dedicated solely to empowering young people who stutter and their families. Friends aims to provide support, education and empowerment to children and teens who stutter, their families and clinicians, and hosts a large annual convention each July along with many regional one-day conferences throughout the year.
Children’s programming at Friends: One-Day Events is activity-based and focuses on feelings about and strategies for dealing with stuttering, and is facilitated by speech-language pathologists and members of the adult stuttering community. At these events, children, teens, siblings, parents and speech-language pathologists attend sessions geared specifically toward their individual needs. One-day workshops include presentations, small discussion groups, panel presentations and group activities, and one-day events are a place for speech-language pathologists and students to learn more about stuttering, current therapy approaches, and the support available to people who stutter, while earning 0.55 ASHA CEUs. Financial assistance is available for families who would like to attend a one-day event but are experiencing financial difficulties and find the cost prohibitive.
The three-day annual convention includes support, family-oriented events, keynote speakers, and workshops for all, and it also offers a Graduate Student Training Program (GSTP) that helps graduate students in speech-language pathology get a better understanding of stuttering and the experience of stuttering for young people and their families. The leadership and history of Friends include founders John Ahlbach and Lee Caggiano, and Kristin Chmela, who is president and owner of Chmela Communication Center in Buffalo Grove, Illinois and co-founder and Director of Training and Therapeutic Experiences at Camp Shout Out. Staff and presenters include Nicholas Brow, M.A., CCC-SLP; Kristin A. Chmela, M.A., CCC-SLP BCS-F; Katie Gore, MA, CCC-SLP; Caryn Herring MS, CCC-SLP; Shelby Potts M.S. CCC-SLP, BCS-SCF; Rita D. Thurman, M.S., CCC, BCS-F; Elisha Boxer Magnifico, MA, CCC-SLP; Nic Brow M.A., CCC-SLP; Nick Caruso M.S., CCC-SLP; and David Catlin, who is the recipient of the 2011 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre and the 2018 MacArthur Foundation Award for Creative & Effective Institutions.
One convention attendee said, “We felt like we ‘belonged’ as soon as we arrived at the hotel. We benefitted so much from hearing of other families’ journeys, their challenges and their victories.”
Last updated March 20, 2026.
• Ages: 6–18 years old
• Schedule: One-day events run from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, and the annual convention is a three-day event from Thursday at 1:00 PM to Saturday at 11:00 PM
Friends is a 501(c)(3) national nonprofit organization that was founded in 1997. Friends is the only national nonprofit organization dedicated solely to empowering young people who stutter and their families. Friends aims to provide support, education and empowerment to children and teens who stutter, their families and clinicians, and hosts a large annual convention each July along with many regional one-day conferences throughout the year.
Children’s programming at Friends: One-Day Events is activity-based and focuses on feelings about and strategies for dealing with stuttering, and is facilitated by speech-language pathologists and members of the adult stuttering community. At these events, children, teens, siblings, parents and speech-language pathologists attend sessions geared specifically toward their individual needs. One-day workshops include presentations, small discussion groups, panel presentations and group activities, and one-day events are a place for speech-language pathologists and students to learn more about stuttering, current therapy approaches, and the support available to people who stutter, while earning 0.55 ASHA CEUs. Financial assistance is available for families who would like to attend a one-day event but are experiencing financial difficulties and find the cost prohibitive.
The three-day annual convention includes support, family-oriented events, keynote speakers, and workshops for all, and it also offers a Graduate Student Training Program (GSTP) that helps graduate students in speech-language pathology get a better understanding of stuttering and the experience of stuttering for young people and their families. The leadership and history of Friends include founders John Ahlbach and Lee Caggiano, and Kristin Chmela, who is president and owner of Chmela Communication Center in Buffalo Grove, Illinois and co-founder and Director of Training and Therapeutic Experiences at Camp Shout Out. Staff and presenters include Nicholas Brow, M.A., CCC-SLP; Kristin A. Chmela, M.A., CCC-SLP BCS-F; Katie Gore, MA, CCC-SLP; Caryn Herring MS, CCC-SLP; Shelby Potts M.S. CCC-SLP, BCS-SCF; Rita D. Thurman, M.S., CCC, BCS-F; Elisha Boxer Magnifico, MA, CCC-SLP; Nic Brow M.A., CCC-SLP; Nick Caruso M.S., CCC-SLP; and David Catlin, who is the recipient of the 2011 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre and the 2018 MacArthur Foundation Award for Creative & Effective Institutions.
One convention attendee said, “We felt like we ‘belonged’ as soon as we arrived at the hotel. We benefitted so much from hearing of other families’ journeys, their challenges and their victories.”
Last updated March 20, 2026.
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