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From: Scott
Date: 14 Oct 2012
Time: 19:28:44 -0500
Remote Name: 108.17.124.241
Hi Aisha - Thanks for your post. Yes, I'm afraid it's true that many people who stutter have had some pretty bad therapy experiences... Data suggest that the majority of these negative experiences have happened when clinicians focused too narrowly on fluency without accounting for the rest of the condition. This gets back to the issue of understanding what stuttering really is. The more we understand the condition, the less likely we are to be intimidated by it as clinicians - and the better able we will be to provide appropriate, comprehensive therapy that truly meets our clients' needs. This is a problem that can be overcome - it will just take a shift in the thinking of clinicians and researchers who focus too narrowly on the surface behaviors. For some added perspectives on this, you might enjoy the letter to the editor that my colleagues and I published in LSHSS just last week. You'll find the response to that letter to be instructive, as well. Thanks again for your post! S