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From: Kevin Eldridge
Date: 04 Oct 2011
Time: 23:00:39 -0500
Remote Name: 24.12.164.27
Jane, Great question. Covert stutterers are by definition, probably not going to stutter much when they first see you. They have spent their life using elaborate techniques to avoid stuttering. The first thing you need to do with a Covert stutterer is to get them to stutter more! Why... because this means they are actually starting to be honest with themselves and are facing their worst fears... that they will stutter. Often times a Covert stutterer may begin therapy before they are really ready to do the hard work. If this is the case you are correct fluency shaping is definitely not going to do any good (whether it ever does any good is a question in itself). But it sure won't help here. They would use the technique in the therapy room and then continue to avoid and use their tricks in the real world. An interesting side. When I first began my doctoral studies my advisor told me of a covert artic case she had. This college student came to her for help with his speech. After the first 10 minutes she had no idea why he was there. His speech sounded perfectly normal. The he told her he couldn't pronounce the /r/ sound. When she reviewed his speech sample video, she realized that he had talked 10 minutes without using a word with the letter /r/. Talk about working hard to avoid a problem. It is amazing what some people will do to avoid showing that they have a communication disorder.