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From: Allyson Grinfeld
Date: 13 Oct 2010
Time: 16:39:03 -0500
Remote Name: 216.165.95.70
I found this article extremely interesting--and I empathize with your own experience/stories of how negative reactions to stuttering at a young age only increased anxiety, frustration, and a feeling of inadequacy. Do you think that being placed in a therapy session where instead of learning how to "hide" your stutter, or a fluency shaping method, you were taught to voluntarily stutter from the start, you would have been spared years of feeling these ways? Or do you think that, being so young, you would not have been able to stutter voluntarily regardless of what type of therapy session you had attended? I guess what I am wondering is, do you think it would have been difficult, being so young, to accept your stutter and put it out there for all to see? Is voluntary stuttering maybe a great technique for those old enough to mentally be comfortable with the way they speak? I see both sides. I think that while it is definitely evident that trying to conceal your stutter through techniques is not the answer, for it leads to a constant feeling of fear that somebody will find out, and you are essentially living in a disguise of how you really speak and express yourself, a young child might not be mature enough to lay their stuttering out for the public. That is, especially when their audience is other children in school, etc, who are also not mature enough to understand or empathize with others. What have you found? Thank you!