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From: Liv Marit Dalen
Date: 10/5/02
Time: 6:25:10 AM
Remote Name: 193.217.132.23
I am really happy to see that a speech therapist can take such a decision as to give the client a break. I was wondering if you had these ideas from Iceland? Here in Bergen (Norway) we have just hosted the Nordic Stuttering Conference with people from all five Nordic countries , and I have the impression that fluency shaping and a strong emphasize on fluency is not much used here. I guess the Nordic peoples have a more relaxed attitude to stuttering and other handicaps, it is easier for people with disabilities to get good jobs,for example, and fluent speech isn't regarded as being as essential as it is in the US. My husband, who moved here two years ago,used to be very fixated on fluency, but is much more relaxed living over here. (Still, there is some ignorance about stuttering and you might meet people who don't know how to behave in a conversation with someone who stutters, but by and large it is much more relaxed.I also see this in the school where I work. We have a sixth grade student who stutters, but I have never heard any negative comments or teasing, neither does he refrain from reading aloud in class etc.)