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From: Dick Mallard
Date: 10/5/02
Time: 2:09:28 PM
Remote Name: 147.26.252.64
Brynn, where are you a student? Our son worked in Minneapolis while he was a student at Texas A&M. We had the opportunity to visit twice. You live in a beautiful part of the country. We were not there in the middle of winter, however!
Let me answer you question from several perspectives. I have been working on this paper for several years now and I believe I have most of the verses that apply. Therefore, I have not used this with many clients to date. I have not advertised myself as approaching stuttering therapy from a Biblical basis. I simply use this as an an adjunct to treatment whenever it is appropriate. By appropriate, I mean when the client gives some indication that concepts presented in the Bible might be relevant to him or her. I must admit that I have given some consideration to letting the public know that we can approach treatment from a Biblical perspective. I wonder what the response would be?
You probably noticed on the last two pages I compared what Van Riper and Paul have to say. Notice that Paul's instructions only go through desensitization in Van Riper's treatment. Therefore, I seems that one could certainly follow Paul's concepts, get the client to the point of accepting the problem, and then continue with Van Riper's steps. I believe that one can follow Paul's suggestions and then go through any therapy and probably be successful. The key point here, I believe, is the attitude of the client. If one has the proper attitude about stuttering or any other problem (glory in tribulation!), then I believe the battle is almost won.
Speaking of using this paper, I hope clinicians will take this paper and use it in treatment where appropriate and let me know what happens. Maybe we could develop a discussion group around this topic some time. There has been interest from professionals. Many requested copies when they found out I had it.
Now, what about the clients I have seen? I have given this paper to several families of children who stutter. Some have said thank you and did not mention it again. I had one situation where the parents read the paper, wrote back that it was most helpful and told me why, and I have not heard from them to date. They were in the final stages of the program and I believe the paper put their child's stuttering into proper perspective for them, according to what they said. When I hear from them again I plan to follow-up and hear what they have to say. I have had the experience of parents contacting me and mentioning spiritual matters in the first conversation. I inform them about this paper and they seem pleased to know where I stand. I let them lead with this and I simply follow. When it is appropriate, however, it is nice to have something organized to present. This paper should be viewed as an organized tool and nothing more.
To give you another perspective, let me address the question "Why now?" Why did it take me to the age of 60 to put this paper together when the Bible has been there all along? To understand the motivation for such a task, let me go back a few years. I trusted Christ when I was nine years old (Romans 10:9 KJV). I believed from that time forward that God had a plan for my life and it was up to me to trust Him to find out what that was. My stuttering became worse in high school but I believed that there was probably a reason for this situation. It was not until my senior year in college that I found out about speech therapy (I was referred for treatment when I could not talk to a professor.). I graduated, began graduate school in speech pathology and the rest, as they say, is history. Time and space do not permit me to tell you how my life has been blessed because of my stuttering. I can only say that the experiences I had as a child prepared me for what I do today. I believe it was God's plan for me to be a speech-language pathologist, specializing in stuttering. It was no accident that I when I did get help from Dr. Norman Barnes at the University of North Texas, I moved through the Van Riper program quickly and with ease. My speech has been under my control ever since (some situations better than others, of course!).
It was not until three years ago that I learned how to study the Bible, rightly divided (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV). It was at this time that the Bible began to make sense. Right away, I began to study with the purpose of finding out just what did the Bible have to say about working with people who have problems, particularly stuttering. You can imagine my shock when I put all this together saw how relevant scripture was to stuttering therapy, especially the treatment that I had! The next step was obvious. The Bible can, and should, be used in treatment. Thus, this paper was developed.
So, there you have it. What comes next? I don't know. I can't wait to find out!