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From: Joe Klein
Date: 30 Nov 2007
Time: 14:27:09 -0600
Remote Name: 66.195.14.141
Hi Julie. Thanks for your great comments. Please say hello to Dr. St. Louis for me. You have a wonderful professor. I think stuttering is neglected for a few reasons. Number one, in some respects, it is a low incidence disorder. Everyone has just one or two people on caseload who stutter (you could also argue that it is a HIGH incidence disorder, because EVERYONE has one or two people... but that is another post for another day). Another reason is that stuttering is (sort of) hard to treat. If you are working with a child with an articulation disorder, you are going to see progress, and 90% of the kids you work with will improve, and be able to say many of the sounds you are working on. In stuttering, I think many people have fluency as their only goal, and then when the clients don't get fluent, it is seen as a failure, and they (and the client) get frustrated. Finally (although there are other reasons), there is the issue of money, aka, $$$$$. You can charge a lot for swallowing. You can charge a lot for other medically-related issues. Stuttering, at least today, is not seen as a medical issue, and many insurance companies will not pay. No pay, no care... But people like you can work to change that. Take care, Joe