{"id":40802298642,"date":"2026-10-15T09:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T13:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/?p=40802298642"},"modified":"2026-10-12T16:31:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T20:31:59","slug":"raj-advocates-for-stuttering-treatment-coverage-before-new-jersey-assembly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/raj-advocates-for-stuttering-treatment-coverage-before-new-jersey-assembly\/","title":{"rendered":"Raj Advocates for Stuttering Treatment Coverage Before New Jersey Assembly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Erik Raj, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology, presented a testimony to the Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee as a representative of the New Jersey Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NJSHA). Raj spoke in support of Assembly Bill 3745<\/a>, which would require health insurance and Medicaid coverage for the treatment of stuttering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his testimony, Raj discussed the misconceptions of the neurodevelopment communication disorder<\/a>, supported why treatment must be individualized, and explained why progress is often nonlinear. He additionally urged that insurance utilization management should reflect the clinical reality of stuttering therapy rather than an overly simplified timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was an honor to represent the New Jersey Speech-Language-Hearing Association and speak on behalf of people who stutter and the speech-language pathologists who support them. Stuttering is complex, highly individual, and often much more than what someone hears on the surface. I was grateful for the opportunity to help communicate that reality to our legislators and to advocate for insurance practices that allow people who stutter to receive the individualized care they need to participate more fully and confidently in everyday life,\u201d Raj said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading up to the hearing, Raj worked closely with NJSHA leadership and the government affairs team to ensure the testimony accurately reflected both the proposed legislation and the clinical realities experienced by people who stutter. He also had the opportunity to speak with Assemblywoman Alixon Collazos-Gill, a primary sponsor of the bill, about the concerns regarding amendments that had been made to the legislation and alternative language that may better reflect the realities of stuttering treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDr. Raj\u2019s state level advocacy demonstrates his commitment to those with communication disorders and mirrors the levels of competence, creativity, and compassion the Department of Speech-Language Pathology at Monmouth University strives to model for our students as they develop into practitioners,\u201d said Patrick Walden, Ph.D., department chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NJSHA is the premier state professional organization<\/a> that empowers audiologists, speech-language pathologists, speech, language and hearing scientists, and future professionals by providing resources and support to its members and those they serve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee<\/a> is responsible for issues such as banking, finance, trusts and estates, auto insurance, liability insurance, life insurance, product liability, property insurance, and tort reform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Erik Raj, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology, presented a testimony to the Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee as a representative of the New Jersey Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NJSHA). Raj spoke in support of Assembly Bill 3745, which would require health insurance and Medicaid coverage for the treatment of stuttering. In his testimony, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2249,"featured_media":40802298678,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[414,322,444,423],"tags":[7755,7758,432,1349],"person":[7761,5448,3923],"audience":[14,386,17,11,8,50,29,1961,131,128,47],"school":[113,2525],"program":[],"class_list":["post-40802298642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-faculty-accomplishments","category-monmouth-now","category-faculty-perspectives","tag-assembly-financial-institutions-and-insurance-committee","tag-new-jersey-speech-language-hearing-association","tag-newsletter","tag-school-of-education","person-alixon-collazos-gill","person-erik-raj","person-patrick-walden","audience-alumni","audience-community","audience-community-member","audience-current-student","audience-faculty","audience-graduate-student","audience-media","audience-parent","audience-prospective-graduate-student","audience-prospective-undergraduate-student","audience-undergraduate-student","school-school-of-education","school-speech-language-pathology"],"squareimage":{"id":40802298654,"rendered":"\"\"","original":{"url":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/10\/Erik-Raj_square.jpg","width":660,"height":660}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802298642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2249"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40802298642"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802298642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40802298714,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802298642\/revisions\/40802298714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40802298678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40802298642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40802298642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40802298642"},{"taxonomy":"person","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/person?post=40802298642"},{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=40802298642"},{"taxonomy":"school","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school?post=40802298642"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=40802298642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}