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From: Scott Palasik
Date: 05 Oct 2012
Time: 08:57:01 -0500
Remote Name: 130.101.20.195
Oh Bell! It is so great to hear from you! I love that you are a counselor first too! I have treated several covert PWS (PWSC) and I agree with you entirely about the "fluency shaping techniques being counterproductive, at first. The heart of covert ANYTHING has very little to do with the physical behaviors, but it deals with the cognitive behaviors (chosen perceptions) an individual holds on to, which influences the external behavior of hiding. You wrote all of this in your presentation, so this is preaching to the choir! I had one young man who was in college. He hid his stuttering in all kinds of ways. He even said to us "I'm fine with. But I change words all the time to hide it." He was openly conflicting his external behaviors with his value of "acceptance." This was an doorway to talk about what the client truly values, and who he was at the core. By discussing (allowing) a client to see who they are and who they want to be (what values they wouldn't trade for ANYTHING), we can put them in conflict with their physical behaviors, thus providing them insight to potential reasons for choosing those behaviors while still connecting their values to committed actions (goals). The client went from covert, social isolated, to wining a male talent show in front of thousands of people where he had to give two speeches, one about stuttering...Wonderful, wonderful person.. His decisions to look at himself were so inspiring to me and the clinicians who worked with him. I will always remember him. And not because his speech changed, but because he grew into the person he truly wanted to be and always knew he could be. A great guy! He found, life. Anyway!!! Bell, I'm glad to see you are doing well and we NEED to catch up more (not hear though). You are doing beautiful things! always, Scott