Relapse Following Successful Stuttering Therapy: The Problem of Choice

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Re: Follow up Questions

From: Ryan Pollard
Date: 05 Oct 2012
Time: 20:47:19 -0500
Remote Name: 69.116.220.90

Comments

Hi, Kellie, I’m glad you enjoyed the paper. To answer your first question, I tend to take the broad view on success. Clients want to become the best, most effective communicators they can be, but the realization of that goal will vary from person to person. Success for one client may not look like the success of another. I know that sounds like an obfuscatory answer, but success really is that individualized. Of course, that means that the exercises/activities that help create success will depend on what the client wants to get out of therapy. If he/she primarily wants fluency, there are many techniques that can instill it, but they usually need to be combined with methods to reduce fear and avoidance, or else the client will have trouble using those skills in difficult situations. If he/she mainly wants to learn to manage disfluencies better and/or be less impacted by the disorder, then attitudinal and cognitive changes will probably be the focal points of therapy, along with skills to modify and gain control over stuttering moments. As far as forming new constructs, remember that SLPs are not mental health professionals, but we can (and should) help our clients take risks, discuss feelings that arise from the process of change, and assist with reorienting them toward more constructive and reasonable concepts of success and failure. Any type of therapy isn’t so much about transferring responsibility as it is about helping clients gain insight into themselves and their choices; once that’s happened, then their choices really are their own.


Last changed: 10/24/12