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From: Tom Brennan
Date: 09 Oct 2009
Time: 14:46:55 -0500
Remote Name: 144.96.128.14
Meghan, I wanted to address your question from a clinician's point of view but had to log off when I first answered you so now let me add a bit. We tend to use the phrase "covert stutter" to mean stuttering or even stuttering activity which we cannot see. I believe that this is a mistake. There is a difference between hidden and covert stuttering. Hidden stuttering is simply stuttering that other's can't see. I have had clients who could set their mind to not stuttering and they didn't. This is not truly covert stuttering but is, rather, an avoidance behavior. Of course, as fluency shaping it is successful speech. In most ways that count to the public, if you can hide your stuttering you are no longer a stterer even if it requires work for you to do so. Covert stuttering, on the other hand, is stuttering that takes place in the brain before verbalization even begins. It may be a problem even down to the formulation of sentences and/or thoughts somewhat similar to problems reported by clutterers. Perhaps this is ultimately the bridge between cluttering and stuttering. Anyway, this is a much more difficult problem for the clinician to deal with because there is practically no way to verify it hence to work with it. This issue is more like working with a psychological problem. It is therefore important that a clinician differentiate between hidden and truly covert stuttering issues. Ultimately, far too many therapy forms and therapists work toward hidden stuttering and do not deal with covert stuttering.