[ Contents | Search | Post | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Susan Block
Date: 02 Oct 2008
Time: 00:08:24 -0500
Remote Name: 131.172.4.44
Hi Mark, My view is that fluency shaping should be the treatment of choice (because that is what I believe the evidence indicates)when the adult wants to work specifically on their speech (fluency). I use stuttering severity to incorporate a number of issues - the amount and type of stuttering; as well as the impact of the stuttering on the person. What clinicians should use in the management of anxiety depends on what the issues are for each individual. This might range from counselling, to a variety of strategies like desensitisation, cognitive reconstructions (like personal construct psychology techniques etc). However, in the case of extreme anxiety (where people are avoiding socialisation etc) it may be more appropriately managed by psychologists. I do not feel that the existing science is limited in the way you query - assuming that speech pathologists are educated about the nature of stuttering and the impact it can have, in a variety of ways, on an individual. Andrews and Harris discussed this in their 1964 study.