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From: Sandra Merlo
Date: 22 Oct 2009
Time: 15:45:42 -0500
Remote Name: 201.0.94.97
Dear Andrea, thank you for your comments and questions. 1) There are not large studies about the prevalence of helpless and mastery-oriented response among PWS. In my clinical practice, 2/3 of my patients are more helpless than mastery-oriented. 2) I think the first step for changing is being conscious about the own behavior. The patient has to be conscious about his/her helpless response, about his/her performance goals, and about his/her beliefs that stuttering is unchangeable. Then he/she has to see that fluency can be changed. For example, the patient him/herself probably lives situations where his/her fluency is better; maybe his/her stuttering has changed through time and the speech therapist could use this example. The next step is focusing on learning and not on performance: “what can I learn with these experiences?”. It is also very useful to use situations that the patient is living and interpret them with helpless and mastery-oriented responses. This makes both options clearer. 3) If you liked this topic, you can read Carol Dweck’s book (“Mindset": http://www.mindsetonline.com/ In the book, she demonstrates the application of her research in several aspects of life (sports, jobs, relationships). Regards, Sandra