The Experience of People Who Stutter: A Survey by the NSA

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Re: Change in Attitude

From: Jim McClure
Date: 12 Oct 2009
Time: 17:39:50 -0500
Remote Name: 71.228.102.188

Comments

You are correct that therapy for stuttering must be highly individualized, and that people who stutter have a wide spectrum of experiences and therapy goals. Most of us have found that fluency skills are perishable -- the high rate of relapse after successful therapy is no surprise -- while attitude change tends to be permanent. It may be that people perceive therapies that aim to eliminate stuttering as less successful because the goal is to fluency rather than communication. Most clinicians these days use a combination of methods, including attitude change. I think the biggest challenge a clinician has is to help clients set realistic expectations: Many people initially enter therapy to "get fluent" and have not thought about attitudes.


Last changed: 10/12/09