Acceptance is NOT Giving Up!

[ Contents | Search | Post | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ]


Re: Advice for an aspring SLP?

From: Russ Hicks
Date: 20 Oct 2009
Time: 22:47:58 -0500
Remote Name: 24.220.195.179

Comments

Hi Youngmee, Will you marry me? Ha, ha, ha! Your boyfriend and my wife might object, but you’ve hit on a real passion of mine: student SLPs! … I want you to go to my home page at www.russhicks.com and click on “writings” and read three of my previous ISAD papers written in 2001, 2003 and 2008. The 2001 paper (Shady Trailers…) tells about my early speech therapy decades ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth. My therapists were wonderful and caring people, but they simply didn’t know what to do. The 2003 paper tells about my understanding of the Stuttering Iceberg which – to me – was a total revolution. That was the key ingredient of stuttering therapy that NO ONE KNEW in my early days. The 2008 paper tells about the involvement of teachers and student SLPs with the NSA and why I am so passionate about teaching students what my therapists never knew – and how to have FUN doing it. … I haven’t received any speech therapy myself in nearly 50 years. But I am intimately involved teaching student SLPs what stuttering is REALLY all about. I work with both students and people who stutter all over the country. I attend conferences of the National Stuttering Association year after year because I know that’s where a LOT of the learning takes place for almost everyone in the stuttering community. If you can possibly make one (or more) of those conference, you will be amazed at what you learn. If you can even attend an NSA chapter meeting near you – and there are many in New York – you will also be amazed at what you learn there. … My “bad” speech therapy was not caused by bad people, but by simple lack of knowledge. Fluency shaping worked for only a short time for me, and I’ve heard the same thing from many other people who stutter. That only attacks the top of the iceberg, not the huge underside – which is FAR more difficult to work with. It takes a cooperative effort by almost everyone in the stuttering community – people who stutter, SLPs, support groups, and the various organizations like the NSA, the SFA, and the Stuttering Home Page to really make a difference in the lives of people who stutter. … As you can see I could go on and on about this. I’ve love for you to contact me at russhicks@mail.com so we could continue this discussion when this conference is over. I’d love to get you on a couple of internet discussion groups I own. … I’m traveling now and will be back in Dallas in several weeks. But thanks to the internet, I stay connected to the stuttering community wherever I am. I hope to hear back from you. … I hope you’re enjoying this wonderful online conference, Youngmee! … Russ


Last changed: 10/20/09