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From: Ken St. Louis
Date: 20 Oct 2008
Time: 09:28:52 -0500
Remote Name: 157.182.15.121
Hi Michael, I'm not one of the "profs" this year, but I thought I'd weigh in on your important question. My sense is that most SLPs are not as likely to bring in mental health professionals into the treatment regimen as they are to consult traditional doctors or pediatricians. Many do not typically consult either in their treatment of stuttering unless there are "red flags" that suggest the necessity or desirability of other professional consultations. I've worked with a few stuttering clients where we clearly needed the help of mental health professionals. I'm recalling two cases who frequently talked of suicide. In those cases, I found it useful to work in a co-therapist arrangement, where my students and I met regularly with the mental health professional while both of us treated the client. Of course, the clients were aware of this arrangement. That being said, I do not believe that most stutterers require the treatment of licensed psychologist, social workers, and so on. The evidence is quite clear that stuttering is not the result of a psychological problem in the vast majority of cases. Yet, as you WELL KNOW, many SLPs are reluctant to treat people who stutter for lots of reasons. One of those reasons is that they feel uncomfortable dealing with the common emotions associated with stuttering, e.g., anxiety and reduced self-esteem. My guess is that these clinicians simply assume that there are other SLPs who would be better able to treat the emotions of the persons in question. It's a case of "benign neglect," possibly. On a positive note, the pendulum seems to be swinging back to dealing more with emotions in stuttering. And, given the advances in brain and neurochemical research, it is unlikely that we'll find ourselves in the mire of the view--typical of the 1950s--that stutterers are all neurotic and all we have to do is deal with their underlying conflicts in order to treat their stuttering. Best wishes, Ken