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From: Stef J (SLP Grad Student)
Date: 21 Oct 2008
Time: 23:22:49 -0500
Remote Name: 96.42.1.102
Very insightful article. I particularly liked the statement you made, "the level of being affected by stuttering is not proportional to the severity of overt stuttering symptoms." I feel that too often people assume that just because a person who stutters doesn't do it to a great degree that it's not having a significant effect on them psychologically and emotionally. The fact that it happens less frequently or only in certain situations, I think, would only help raise anxiety and make the person question their ability to communicative effectively with others, as they are receiving random reinforcement for the behavior. Also, I think the part where you mention your teacher who dismissed you from a role in a play to "save you the embarrassment" is a common occurrence for people who stutter, especially children. While teachers, parents or others mean well by letting a child "get out" of certain activities that involve speaking, I think it creates an external locus of control, making the child feel as though the stuttering is powerful and something that should be feared and avoided. This is not to say that a child should not be accommodated if they are very uncomfortable with speaking in front of their class. They could either record themselves giving a presentation or give the presentation in a smaller group or one-on-one with the instructor. But a person giving the stutterer a "free pass" is very damaging. I think another example of people meaning well and wanting to "help" is when they decide to finish sentences or guess what the stutterer is trying to say. Many stutterers will express how they really dislike it when others do this, because they want to speak for themselves. Plus, often times the person guesses wrong anyway!