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From: Ken Logan
Date: 08 Oct 2010
Time: 16:13:38 -0500
Remote Name: 128.227.4.164
Thank you for your feedback. I'm glad you found the article useful. I should add that there are plenty of other children's books available featuring characters with other types of communication challenges. So, this is not something that is restricted to stuttering. The differences between talking about others’ feelings and one’s own feelings are seldom an “all versus nothing” affair, it’s more a matter of degree. I think there's general consensus that children (and maybe even teens and adults!) often have limited insight into what their attitudes and feelings are. They may know at some level that they feel "bad," but will struggle to explain that feeling in any depth or with detail. So, the characters in the books provide a forum for exploring feelings, attitudes, and how they arise in a context where the feelings, attitudes, etc., are laid out in some detail and explained. (Remember though that not all children’s books go into great detail about these matters!!). There is also the problem of "emotional distance" -- it can be distressing to talk about one's feelings, especially when they are unpleasant. So, it's generally easier, at first anyway, for a person to talk about what other people should do than it is to dissect one’s own actions, feelings, etc. Limited insight and feelings of distress can lead to the perfunctory responses that clinicians often receive when attempting to engage children in discussions about feelings and emotions. I should mention here that fiction books aren't the only resource for such activities. For example, I sometimes just tell clients short anecdotes about other people who stutter (e.g., “I knew a person once who did x, y, or z, and it was very challenging for him to...”). The anecdotes are usually composite sketches built from former clients, people I've read about, as well as my own personal experiences, but the effect is very similar to that with the books -- you generate a context for exploring a problem. There is also a workbook called “The School-Age Child Who Stutters: Working Effectively with Attitudes and Emotions” by Kristin Chmela, M.A. and Nina Reardon, M.S. (available through the Stuttering Foundation). It contains lots of good, simple activities for exploration of affective issues. Good luck!