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From: Peter Reitzes
Date: 22 Oct 2009
Time: 07:37:13 -0500
Remote Name: 165.155.192.86
Coleen, thank you for your question. You ask, “Do you think the pausing and stuttering would be a technique best used for a mild, moderate or severe stutterer?” In 2006, I wrote a paper for this conference which discussed the terminology of mild, moderate and severe. The paper is archived at http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/isad9/papers/reitzes9.html I wrote and strongly believe that “Using the terms mild, moderate, and severe do not adequately describe or explain how a person is stuttering, how stuttering affects one's life, or how a person feels about stuttering.” I think what you are asking is – “Do you think the frequency of a client’s stuttering is something to consider when deciding which speech tools to present to the client?” My experience has been that pausing is useful for many people who stutter including those who are heard to stutter a lot, for those who are heard to stutter much less, and for everyone in-between. Pausing may work for some, others may not choose to use it, and others may revisit pausing sometime down the road. Thanks again for writing.