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From:
Date: 20 Oct 2009
Time: 23:24:03 -0500
Remote Name: 71.237.78.109
Anna- Yours is a loaded question. There are many things we can do to help our adult clients stay more positive. First, I always stress that everyone is different. They stutter differently and their journeys to recovery will be different. I think a major obstacle for adults is they are impatient with the change process, and need to be educated with respect to what they can realistically expect. Also, it is hard to understand why the changes they make in the therapy room are not easily or quickly transferred into the real world. We as counselors need to be sure we support their journey by monitoring both these things. Another thing I do is talk with my adult clients about cognitive distortions and how they relate to stuttering. For example, maximizing failures and minimizing successes. I have my clients always begin each session telling me what is working first, then we go on to discuss what is not working. Looking back from where they came instead of ahead to where they think they should be is also helpful. We also want to get away from the binary measurement of fluent vs. nonfluent so they can measure progress along a continuum. For example, he may be still stuttering, but if he has reduced the tension in his blocks by 75% that is excellent progress. If he is measuring only his fluency he may feel little progress. I use a hierarchy of situations in my therapy so my clients can visually navigate from easier to harder and measure success only at the levels we are targeting. It can be hard work for sure!