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From: Vince Vawter
Date: 10 Oct 2011
Time: 07:09:59 -0500
Remote Name: 67.187.126.12
Hi, Erica. I first encountered clinic therapy at age 14. I was not ready and I fought it. I was still trying to cover up my stutter, pretending it wasn't there. In college and a young adult until my late 30s, I tried self-therapy with disastrous results. After the childhood years, I believe it takes a special person to gain freedom from a stutter without professional help. Perhaps the only good outcome of all my years of self-therapy and reading on the subject was that I began to understand I was not alone and that I was up against something that had confounded many intelligent people. My first real encounter with a therapy program to which I was totally committed was at age 39 with the Fluency Shaping Program at Hollins Commication Research Institute in Roanoke, VA. This is the first time in my life I had ever felt fluency and realized that there was nothing wrong with me psychologically. It gave me the courage to start my journey toward freedom from my stutter. I understand there are programs out there similar to Hollins. I think the two-second syllables, gentle onsets, amplitude contours, proper breathing and other instruments of fluency are the way to go. But there's more. There needs to be the holistic repair of the psyche and the buildup of confidence to convince the PWS that he or she can gain freedom and live a normal life. It's a challenging task for the clinician and the client.