[ Contents | Search | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Charlie Healey
Date: 18 Oct 2012
Time: 10:56:46 -0500
Remote Name: 129.93.227.150
Emily: I am not a person who stutters but have specialized in working with PWS of all ages for over 35 years. Perhaps your question is directed to those of stutter but I have some insights and ideas about why some PWS seek therapy and others don't. First, stuttering therapy is like other therapies (PT, counseling) in that a person will get out it what they put into it or are motivated to change. Many people like the idea of change but are not willing to make the sacrifices needed to make the change. Other factors include availability of the service, costs, knowledge and expertise of the person providing the treatment. Second, I have worked with several adults who had stuttering therapy in elementary school but then lost interest in the process after high school. In many cases, it was many years later as an adult that the person chose to seek treatment again. It the vast majority of cases, they were ready for therapy because they were at one of the lowest points in their life in coping with stuttering. Those individuals did well in therapy because they didn't let cost, commitment to the process, or defeats or whatever stand in their way of managing their stuttering. Others, seek therapy and are simply shopping for a "quick cure." Those individuals rarely stayed in treatment when they realize that the SLP or the treatment program was going to "fix" the stuttering. I have also seen a number of clients who have failed to achieve much success after going through a focused fluency shaping form of therapy. Only working on speech mechanics will not have any lasting effect unless the SLP help the client work through cognitive and emotional improvements as well. So, the bottom line is that past experiences or current circumstances really dictate whether a person seeks treatment of not. Our job is to be ready to help those who want help and are not simply looking for a rapid elimination of stuttering. When PWS realize that the stuttering may never totally go away, they either accept that and continue to work on managing it the best they can or simply give up and call it quits. There was a paper that I co-wrote with one of my adult clients for the 2011 ISAD conference that addresses this issue. He talks about why he choose to get treatment after some 40 years without any treatment. The client's name was Bryan Melvin. Take a look at that paper and that will give you some good insights into the treatment process from the client's point of view.