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From: Lacey Burns Lacey_burns_00@subr.edu Southern University and A & M College
Date: 17 Oct 2012
Time: 18:07:48 -0500
Remote Name: 184.46.70.159
As a speech language pathologist assistant in the public school systems, I have encountered children who stutter a few times. I have felt scared and unsure of my clinical skills that I was providing to these children. My main concern was helping these individuals overcome their disfluencies, but I was never sure of my therapy implementation strategies and how to help these individuals overall. I never realized, until reading this article, that as a SLP, one should also focus on the underlying factors of fluency and how disfluencies can affect an individual's daily life. Also, I now realize that I should address individuals in the stutterers life regarding how to help manage fluency and the negative feelings associated with fluency. I agree with the author's in that a SLP should not offer false hope to the stutterer or their families, but rather, she should help the child and his family realize that stuttering may not completely disappear and help these individuals understand what stuttering is. It is imperative that these individuals, especially the stutterer, understand the meaning of stuttering and that this is a disorder that may not completely be resolved, but that it can me minimized and does not have to inhibit their daily lives. Reading this article has given me a more positive outlook as a graduate clinician and a SLPA regarding stuttering treatment. By researching the negative consequencies of and the recent therapeutic strategies for stuttering, I now will be more prepared and less skeptical of myself when treating an individual who stutters.