[ Contents | Search | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Dick Mallard
Date: 08 Oct 2011
Time: 11:19:09 -0500
Remote Name: 70.115.247.185
Ed, like Gary, I was taken through the Van Riper program as it was designed at age 22 which was my first therapy experience. That is exactly what I needed. However, I find that many clinicians do not understand the importance of following the Van Riper (or any therapy for that matter) sequence as it is laid out. There are too many of us who try to use a procedure designed for the last part of Van Riper's program at the beginning of treatment and then wonder why things are not working out. You can't expect a client to use cancellation, for example, without first having been through Motivation, Identification, Desensitization, Variation, and THEN Cancellation, followed by Pull-outs and Preparatory Set and finally Stabilization. There seems to be a lack of understanding of the foundations of this therapy and then the procedures are misapplied. One of the best experiences of my overall clinical training was being taught to do Precision Fluency Shaping at Hollins College. One must follow the steps in the fluency shaping sequence or proper learning does not take place. We all know that there is a lack of adequate instruction in therapies for stuttering during our formal education. That speaks to the importance of specialty training. I could go on and on here but the bottom line is clinical programs should not be initiated unless they are administered as designed by appropriately experienced professionals.