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From: Alan (to Lindsay)
Date: 23 Oct 2009
Time: 16:11:50 -0500
Remote Name: 84.68.54.162
Hi Lindsay, Thank you, so much, for taking the time to read my paper and participate in the threaded discussion. I’m always heartened to receive feedback from SLP graduate students as I feel that such interactions are to our mutual benefit. You pose the following questions: “Should speech language pathologists bring awareness to children who suffer from disfluency or does this risk forever damaging their confidence? Can early awareness build that “inner voice” that says “I stutter” or is early awareness necessary in order to treat the child?” As you will note from my responses to others, I’m not usually shy in offering a viewpoint, but I don’t feel that I am equipped to answer the points that you raise. Let me qualify that statement by explaining that, although I have come into contact with several thousand adult PWS during the past nine years, I have never really had any encounters with children who stutter, apart from a few in the 13-16 year old range. In the circumstances, I am reluctant to suggest a course of action that might be at variance with current teachings on this subject. I feel that the best I can do is to suggest that you, perhaps, consider reading my earlier responses to Julie (October 10)(Re: Thank you, question regarding children -2 posts) and Brooke (October 21)( Re: increasing confidence -2 posts). While they do not specifically touch upon the matters in question, you may find some of my comments of general interest in relation to children (self-image, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-acceptance etc). In conclusion, I would like to mention an incident that occurred about 30 years ago when the child of someone I know began displaying signs of dysfluency at the age of about five years. The parents felt that their overt concern may have exacerbated the situation by making the child more aware of his manner of speaking. They immediately sought the views of a speech therapist who recommended that they should totally ignore any future dysfluencies, and refrain from drawing them to their child's attention. They adhered to this guidance and, within a week, the dysfluency disappeared. It has never returned. When I related that story to a class of SLP students (in the US) a few years ago, I was told that early intervention was now a preferred option. I understand that such a policy is also recommended in the UK. Please accept my apologies for the indecisive nature of my reply - I can assure you that I do not generally ‘sit on the fence’. :-) Remaining on the subject of children who stutter, you may find interest in the following poems that I wrote for the 2004 ISAD Online Conference: (1) CHANGING THE WORDS AROUND - This poem explains the implications of avoidance and word substitution. http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/isad7/papers/badmington7/badmington17.html (2) EVERYONE'S DIFFERENT - I wrote this poem to help children gain a better understanding that everyone (not just those who stutter) is unique. http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/isad7/papers/badmington7/badmington27.html Lindsay, I wish you every success with your studies. Kindest regards Alan