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From: Dick Mallard
Date: 04 Oct 2009
Time: 21:06:16 -0500
Remote Name: 70.115.245.165
Joelle, Ms. Kuster obviously has some very bright students in her class! You are fortunate to have her as a teacher. I assume you are talking about my fourth point on the information gained from the Talk Times. At the present time, all students in the school district who have a fluency problem are being seen by me. They are therefore "formally" enrolled even though they are not being seen in a traditional format. The criteria that I use for enrollment are answers to the following questions. These questions include, but it not limited to: (1) Can the parents work with the child in an objective manner?, (2) Are there issues between the parents that would preculde them from working in a family format?, (3) Do the parents want to work in a family program?, (4) Do the parents want to commit the time to work with their child or do they expect me to "fix" the problem, and of course, (5) Does the child or family need to be in a program like this at this time?. Each case is unique and I have to rely on my experience and knowledge of what will be expected in order to advise the family properly. The answers to the questions above are all red flags that might indicate another treatment formant may be recommended. Keep in mind if I can't work with the parents directly I can work with the teachers and other individuals in the child's communication environment. You might notice that all of these criteria involve the parents. I tell the parents that I use their child to get to them so they can learn what to do to manage the problem in the child's normal communication environment. That surprises some parents. They come to me not knowing what to do and in many cases frustrated and then are surprised when I tell them that the child will not be the focus of treatment! At the end of the program (or before in some cases), they see the value of focusing on the communication environment, not focusing only on how the child talks. I can't tell you how much I enjoy doing this kind of work. It is rewarding when you see the entire family make small changes that enable their child, brother, or sister gain control of talking. The family does the work; I merely present the variables and let them decide what works best for them. You can look at my web site and see what parents say about this type of treatment (www.familystutteringprogram.com). Thanks again for your interest. I hope you will enjoy your professional career as much as I have, and still do, enjoy mine. I sometimes can't believe how fortunate I am to be in this profession. Best wishes.