[ Contents | Search | Post | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Ed Feuer
Date: 20 Oct 2008
Time: 22:25:28 -0500
Remote Name: 12.104.231.121
To "A Stutterer ... Who Continues to Stutter": Yes, for a problem whose treatment is so deeply stuck in the mud, the everything's-just-peachy pose struck by the professionals does indeed seem strange. The misguided notions of professional solidarity, the code of silence and the public relations circling-of-the wagons mode are the last things required at this time. The needs of the clients should come before fear of breaking ranks. And while that seems obvious to persons who stutter, it's ever more apparent that the interests of the latter and SLPs do not always coincide. I would remind those reticent profs now as I have done in the past that dirty laundry that is not washed in public is laundry that is likely to stay dirty. As for the coordinated multidisciplinary team approach which I advocate, the true major obstacle is cost but to many of the professionals, the fear is that any admission that the concept has merit is regarded as a threat to the monopoly edifice. I would prefer that SLPs play a central role in the collaborative treatment team. The basic treatment template I advocate for such a team is that presented by Charles Van Riper in his classic, The Treatment of Stuttering -- a program far too immense for individual SLPs both in terms of time and expertise. They lack the tools to do what is necessary in the process of unlearning, learning and relearning coupled with genuine desensitization, healing and strengthening. In theory, however, SLPs with SID4 specialty training could gain comprehension of how big the treatment challenge really is so as to provide them the humility to see they can't do it all. -- edfeuer@mts.net