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From: Scott Palasik PhD, CCC-SLP
Date: 13 Oct 2011
Time: 21:28:58 -0500
Remote Name: 68.63.222.213
Katie! Congratulations on going to graduate school, getting closer to the end, and having the ambition to see your dream working in an educational setting come true! The first thing I would say to a new therapist working with stuttering clients is you don’t have to be afraid of these clients. They are like any other kids. They have hobbies, dreams, personalities, passions, friends, things that make them unique and things that make them upset. Take home message, they are like every other child with the exception that you have the opportunity (the honor) to help them become comfortable with their speech and themselves. Your second question about bullying is great one too. Teasing comes down to ego (at any age). Basic psychology is that the person teasing perceives their thoughts (judgments) as right and thus categorize other’s because it is easier than getting to know them. To quote Rita Mae Brown “people aren’t grapes --- you can’t weigh them in a bunch, but I guess it’s easier than dealing with people as individuals.” You may have some of your clients who stutter express anger, sadness, guilt, blame (all kinds of feelings) about being teased or bullied. Some strategies to address teasing and bullying with your clients is to first listen to them express their thoughts regarding teasing with open compassionate ears. When they are open to new thoughts you can give them some strategies for dealing with bullying peers like saying “Yup I stutter. It makes me unique”, “That is pretty good. That sounds kind of like me” or just walk away (these are just a few ideas). Counseling can be a great part of therapy and a wonderful asset to your speech-language pathology career. Thanks for asking your questions Katie and best of luck with the rest of your graduate school career! With compassion and kindness, Scott