[ Contents | Search | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Joe Klein
Date: 06 Oct 2007
Time: 22:45:39 -0500
Remote Name: 74.76.104.81
Hi Rick. Thanks for your thoughtful comments and questions. Let me do my best to answer those. First, yes, I would think that all of my listeners knew that I stuttered unless I had a very short phone call and happened to be really fluent. I was certainly still a moderate to severe stutterer at that time, and it was rare for me to go more than a sentence or so without really obvious stuttering. And anytime that my stuttering would really go nuts, I would do my best to mention my stuttering quickly: "It's not a bad connection, I'm just stuttering a lot today" kind of thing. Of course, everyone has bad days, and I am sure that on some days I was less open about my stuttering, and just waiting for 5:00 to come... And, yes, I did do some voluntary stuttering with my trainer (the first week) and then at times with my supervisor. Voluntary stuttering was actually very fluency enhancing for me, and I do what I tell clients NOT to do, which was to use it not only for openness, etc., but to use it for fluency. It got the stuttering out there, it made me slow down, and I knew that it increased my fluency, and darn it, I would use it for that reason. I also was in a phase where I would use it when I first spoke to anyone, just to let the stuttering out of the bag, so to speak (I wish I was as good about that now.. I need to get back into doing that, actually...)... And, absolutely, the more that I was on the phone, the easier it became. Actually, after a while, it became very boring, and towards the end I hated going to work, because it was no longer challenging for me, and it just felt like a "job" -- heaven forbid... I'm not sure what you are asking when you ask about "roles"... I will give it a shot, and you can tell me whether I answered your question or not. Here we go: My job as a customer service rep was confusing. I helped people with drug, alcohol, or mental health problems get linked up with in-network care providers. We handled people from 3 states, and probably 10 to 15 different counties. Each state, and sometimes each county, would have a different provider that I would need to send people to... The customer would call me, I would talk to them, then I would put them on hold and call the (hopefully) correct provider, give them all the customers information, and then transfer the call over... So, lots of different questions to ask to figure out where the person needed to go and at what level of care... My whole point was that it was as confusing as hell, but after a month or so, it started making sense, and I started to understand the system, and was in the role of "knowledgable helper guy" rather than "duh, hold on, let me ask someone guy," and, yeah, I'm sure it helped to make me more fluent. Wow, the lack of caring about stuttering. It really is a lack of understanding, a lack of training, a lack of experience, a lack of funding, etc... Like all health care, our field is unfortunately dominated by money... and insurance companies often won't pay for stuttering service, so that is one reason why the field has moved away from stuttering. The second, and maybe bigger reason, is that working with us people who stutter is hard, and it can be hard to see improvement. Even a good therapist may never get to see someone improve, but what they worked on with the PWS may be helpful for them years later (like fluency shaping was for me). But the therapist will never know that... stuttering is hard... I don't blame some people for throwing in the towel... Take care, Joe