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From: Scott Palasik
Date: 13 Oct 2010
Time: 15:54:59 -0500
Remote Name: 131.95.172.211
Jo, First let me congratulate on choosing this profession. Second, did I meet you at Mankato when I was interviewing for the faculty job there in April? If I did meet you, hi again, if I didn't welcome!!! You ask a great question about reassuring parents...Let me ask you this, what do you know about stuttering? (I bet you learned a lot from Judy Kuster if you had her for stuttering) You can start with just providing education to parents. You can let the parents know that they are as responsible for the child's eye colors as they are for their stuttering (not much). You can educate them on the complexity of stuttering and how it has no known cause and no known cure. You can assure them that their thoughts and emotions are valid and that you are there for them (to listen to them) and their child. Using language like "we" and "us" puts forth the "team" effort which implicitly can tell parents that you will be there for them, support system. By listening to parents and allowing them to express thoughts about stuttering (anger, sadness, guilt, fears) we are allowing parents to get closer to what causes those reactions (anger, sadness, guilt, fears) to thought which can lead them to being more flexible with their perceptions and on the road to acceptance of the stuttering and of their child. This is not an easy road, however it starts with parents discovering who they are (their values) and what they want for their children (usually they want their kids to be happy). We can assure them that by letting of go of wanting to "fix" stuttering, the parents can gain acceptance of the everyday moments of their children and their own thoughts...These concepts are deeply rooted in contextually psychology and Eastern philosophies for thousands of years. So what I'm sharing isn't new, however the approach (contextual psychology, ACT) is fairly new, which is what Jaime and I are trying to develop and bring to the field of stuttering....Please ask any further questions Jo! Jaime and I (as you can tell from our posts) enjoy talking and more so enjoy listening!!! Have a great day!! Scott