[ Contents | Search | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Gunars Neiders
Date: 05 Oct 2007
Time: 20:03:05 -0500
Remote Name: 67.183.183.115
Dr. Healey,…Thank you for a thoughtful article and the emphasis on change in a) cognitions (self-talk), b) emotions (anxiety, shame and guilt) as well as well as c) stuttering behaviors…Coming from the discipline of psychology (Rational Emotive Behavior Psychology) I propose a model which I think is essentially CALMS with maybe little different emphasis…1) First, I am trying to instill in the client the understanding that he or she is a worthwhile human being whether he stutters or not….2) That stuttering per se cannot deprive him or her of a happy self-fulfilling, creative life. It may be inconvenient, but stuttering is never “awful” unless the client or the therapist defines it to be “awful”….3) With some work, whether REBT, narrative therapy, or Cognitive Behavior Therapy, or counseling provided by the SLP, the client can *minimize* the self-destructive emotions of anxiety, shame, guilt etc. And this minimization of these self-destructive emotions should be inherent part and parcel of stuttering therapy….4) The goal of stuttering therapy is not perfect fluency but more fluent, forward moving speech….William Buckley the conservative talk show host had his disfluencies, did not hide them and now has established a school of public speaking (see www.buckleyschool.com); Sir Charles Branson, the English multi-billionaire and philanthropist of Virgin Airlines fame (and owner of more than 40 companies) is quite disfluent on television; and Jack Welch, arguably the best manager (the former chairman of board and CEO of General Electric) is still rather disfluent….5) Habits like stuttering that are multiple feedback habits of what Eugene Cooper called ABC of stuttering (affect, behavior, and cognition) to which I added Sensory Perception to make it ABCs of stuttering take some time to change. However, the debilitating effects, in my humble opinion can be reduced in weeks….Keeping a journal does marvels to document progress and focus on getting better, and not demanding perfection….6) There will be lapses and relapses, just like stock market has its daily fluctuations, but as long as we allocate 5 minutes a day to exercises such as voluntary-pseudo-stuttering, “easy onsets”, “elongation of vowels”, “pullouts” and “pre-pullouts” we can keep in shape to forestall a total collapse of fluency….7) Some people like Doctors Walt Manning and David Shapiro will for all practical purposes become fluent speakers, as long as they do not demand perfect speech….Are we in agreement or have I totally missed the boat? :-)