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From: Kevin Eldridge
Date: 10 Oct 2011
Time: 20:56:56 -0500
Remote Name: 24.12.164.27
Denise- Sorry for the delay in responding. You pose a very interesting question. You are correct, when working with preschool children, working with the parents is often all that is needed. These children have no learned fears and usually do not avoid speaking because of a fear of stuttering. A teen on the other hand, has many learned fears. He or she has thousands of negative experiences with stuttering that they must counteract if they are to become "fearless" in regards to speaking. For this reason, I do not believe one could just work with parents. Parents need to learn about stuttering in general, and their teens stuttering in particular. They need to experience the "fear" and "embarrassment" of stuttering in public. They have much to learn from us, the teens, and the other parents. But.. the teen has much to learn too. Also... the teen needs to set the path of his treatment. His parents need to be there to help him continue on the path, but the teen must be in charge.