Kia Noelle Johnson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Kia Noelle Johnson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is the Associate Director of the Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research Satellite in Atlanta, Georgia. She completed her doctoral studies at Vanderbilt University, where she earned a Ph.D. in Hearing and Speech Sciences. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degree in Communication Disorders from Howard University and Truman State University, respectively. Dr. Johnson specializes in Fluency and Fluency Disorders with a focus on childhood stuttering. Her research interests include the examination of speech disfluencies in culturally and linguistically diverse children who do and do not stutter. As one of the team’s newest members, being a part of the Blank Center gives the opportunity to make a broader impact on the lives of children who stutter and their families. Dr. Johnson understands that as a child gets older, they begin having dreams and aspirations of what they will be when they ‘grow up.’ They start to understand how they are viewed by the world and how the world views them. Dr. Johnson does not want stuttering to be a barrier in any child’s journey towards their dreams in life; nor does she want stuttering to taint the lens through which they view themselves. Words – regardless of fluency – are a powerful tool. When children and adults who stutter say what they want to say, when they want to say it, whether it’s stuttered or not – that is when life becomes living!