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From: Peter Reitzes
Date: 23 Oct 2009
Time: 05:36:03 -0500
Remote Name: 76.15.239.95
Sandra, thanks for writing and sharing your views. While I agree that pausing may, at times, lead to blocks, this is true of many other tools and approaches. Talking about stuttering can, at times, lead to blocks. Voluntary stuttering can, at times, lead to blocks. Pull-outs can, at times, lead to blocks. And so on. People who stutter are going to block and avoid and produce stuttering behaviors at times. Like all speech tools and approaches, pausing needs to be used in a variety of situations and needs to be discussed and reflected upon. Pausing may be right for some, and others may choose that pausing is not right for them. One thing I do caution against is that so many speech pathologists seem to be overly concerned, in my opinion, of working with tools and ideas that sometimes lead to stuttering. The act of stuttering is an integral part of the therapy process and something that I feel is overly feared by professionals. My advice to such professionals is to stop worrying so much about the possibility that your clients might stutter. My experience has been that the act of stuttering is part of healthy and productive speech therapy.