Our History

The Montreal Fluency Centre (MFC) was incorporated as a charitable institution in 1998, but the vision was born in 1987 out of a private practice in Speech-Language Pathology. As the practice grew, clinicians wishing to share this vision were drawn together, leading to the development of a group private practice, which became known for excellence in treatment of some of the lesser known speech and language disorders, including stuttering and apraxia of speech. This core group ultimately decided to create a charitable institution that could offer specialized services in speech-language pathology to the community at large. That dream became reality in 1998 when the Fluency Centre Foundation was incorporated. In January 2000, the Executive Board of the Foundation resolved to expand the mandate of the charity to include the clinical operations of the Montreal Fluency Centre. The Centre in its current location is the realization of that objective. A plan has been developed to increase continuing education in order to offer training to other professionals in specialty areas. The Centre also continues to promote its guest speaker series which focuses on problem based learning for clinical education.

The MFC is pursuing various clinical research projects to focus on its mission to provide treatment whose outcomes are both successful and efficacious. For example, the Lidcombe Programme for Early Intervention in Stuttering has been credited with eliminating the progression of stuttering in preschool aged children within a mean 11 clinical hours, with fluency being maintained for periods up to 4 years. The ongoing success of the MFC can be attributed to its continuous clinical performance evaluation and to encouraging parents to be partners in treatment.

The clinicians at the MFC have been published in peer reviewed journals and have presented a variety of workshops and seminars at both Canadian and international meetings. These clinical training programmes have been attended by graduate students from McGill University, University of Montreal, and other major Universities in Canada and the United States.

During the past five years, since the Centre was established as a charitable institution, the MFC has raised over $1,600,000 to support its mission. This generous support has allowed the Centre to develop and expand a Summer Language Camp, an Early Intervention Stuttering Programme, and a Phonological Awareness for Literacy Programme. A leadership gift from the J.W. McConnell Foundation in 2003 has allowed the Centre to initiate a strategic plan for the five year expansion of the Centre. The Centre also maintains a bursary fund for treatment that pays up to 90% of therapy costs for 35% of all children who are treated at the MFC.