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From: Pam
Date: 14 Oct 2009
Time: 16:31:13 -0500
Remote Name: 67.248.58.128
Working with a covert stutterer is a challenge. I remember q comment made by one of the professors at the college program I attend. She and another professor, and 4 PWS (including myself) were presenting at a NYSSHLA conference. The topic was creating lasting change for adults who stutter. We were all to tell our story. This prof mentioned after I spoke that I was one of the best covert stutterers she had ever met. She had not heard me stutter at all, ever, for the first year I was in the program. . . . . That has stuck with me, because I wondered what she must have thought. Maybe she thought, did I really stutter? Anyway, I guess coverts have to want something when entering/seeking therapy. I wanted support, understanding, to know I was not alone and to feel safe to stutter without fear of ridicule. So, as I mentioned in my article, I really had no idea of what specifically I wanted in therapy. I didn't know what questions to ask. My first student SLP clinician and I still stay in touch, three years later. I know she must have struggled, wondering how she could help me, and still meet her fluency praticum requirements. We wound up working on acceptance, and we both learned from each other. We learned that it is ok to take things slowly and explore previously feared feelings and topics. I learned it was ok to release and cry, and she learned that was a valuable part of the therapy process. Coverts have so much more going on than stuttering - h/she just needs to realize that it will take some time. I was covert for more than 30 years. In three years, I stutter openly most of the time. But I still slip back into covert habits. I learned with good therapists that it is OK. Nothing happens overnight, but what is learned, if meaningful, will be lasting.