Notes from a Stuttering "Expert"

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Re: What wold you have found helpful as a child?

From: Vince Vawter
Date: 12 Oct 2011
Time: 07:24:27 -0500
Remote Name: 67.187.126.12

Comments

A thoughtful question, Kelly. When I was writing my book, I had to relive many unpleasant happenings and feelings from my youth. I even mentioned in my paper that I could feel my speech regressing when I harkened back to my adolescence after a long day of writing. There is no doubt I was a handful for the one speech pathologist I did see as a 14-year-old. I would have been a huge challenge for anyone because I always fought and tried to hide my stutter instead of facing it. In the early 1960s when I was in my teens, I don't believe speech pathologists were espousing fluency shaping techniques. As I remember, it was mostly breathing and timing exercises. So, to answer your question, I think what would have helped me the most is for someone to attempt to reach deep into my psyche and convince me that the only way I could deal with my speech was to face it head-on and not try to cover it up. That person would have had to blow a hole in the huge wall I had put up about my speech. I would not have wanted to be the clinician dealing with the young Vince Vawter.


Last changed: 10/12/11