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From: Pam
Date: 07 Oct 2009
Time: 23:22:16 -0500
Remote Name: 24.195.248.126
I work in a high school and meet with students in small and large groups daily. I have to do a lot of presentations. Sometimes I am very open about my stuttering right away and advertise or use voluntary stuttering right off the bat. Other times, I don't and prefer to use a wait and see approach, and see how my stuttering is going to behave. Mostly, I choose this because I want the focus to be on my students and the topic at hand, not about stuttering. Sometimes I don't want to make every moment a teachable stuttering moment. . . . But I do usually respond right away if someone laughs or mimics me. I try to do it in a matter of fact, quick manner - say something like, "you need to know I stutter and I am ok with that, but I am not Ok with you making fun of me. You might want to ask me some questions about stuttering. If not, lets move on to our topic." I've noticed that sometimes when I do that, the "offender" looks very embarassed or slighted that I have "called them out" like that. I feel I need to do that, to set boundaries with my students and model what is acceptable and what is not. Do you agree? Or is there a different approach I could or should take? I want the focus to be on my students, not on me or stuttering.