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From: Bob Quesal
Date: 06 Oct 2011
Time: 17:23:59 -0500
Remote Name: 143.43.167.161
Hi Geoff: Sorry to get into this discussion late. I had a number of things that came due “around” Oct. 1 and have been scrambling to get those taken care of. (I need to do a better job of checking my calendar when I agree to do things.) I appreciate your post very much. I am sorry that you feel that our paper denigrated the costal breathing approach, because that was not our intention. When Peter and I first set out to understand the approach for the series we did on StutterTalk earlier this year, our intent was to learn more about the approach and to understand why it worked. (As a speech scientist, I always want to figure out the processes that underlie any therapy that involves retraining of speech.) Many things that are taught as part of costal breathing, unfortunately, just don't make sense when one considers how speech breathing works. Having said that, however, there is no doubt in my mind that the approach does work – and work well – for many people. And I think, in your comments, you have highlighted the reasons why the approach is successful. Addressing fear and anxiety, ongoing coaching and support, better communication, quality-of-life issues – those are all extremely important components of the therapy (in fact, are important components of most successful stuttering treatment) that likely contribute as much or more than the breathing technique. I have come to believe that stuttering is, at its core, a disorder of “stuckness.” Everything we do as people who stutter is either to avoid getting stuck or to get out of being stuck in speech. I believe that costal breathing gives people who stutter a new way to approach speech and a new way to think about speaking. That, combined with the support provided within the treatment, helps those who go through the program to feel that they can do something at those times when the feel stuck or, perhaps more importantly, do something while they are speaking that will make those moments of “stuckness” less likely to occur. Using the techniques (whether they hold up to scientific scrutiny or not) allows the person to be less afraid of stuttering, to take risks they might otherwise not take, and to experience some success as a speaker. That success is very powerful and, as we all know, success builds on success. I have no doubt that the McGuire program is life-changing. But it is life changing for reasons that go well beyond breathing technique. Those other things are the lightning in a bottle that we’d like to capture for all of our stuttering treatments. I hope this helps to clarify things. (This is likely to be my standard response to most people who comment on this ISAD paper.) Best Wishes, Bob Q.