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From: Gunars
Date: 10/12/02
Time: 9:53:06 PM
Remote Name: 206.63.151.166
Dr. Tetrowski,
First of all I DO THANK you for tackling this issue.
It really was not meant to be a trick question. It was meant to underline OUR dedication to the most important aspect of concern to a stuttering child and his/her parents: A career choice!
At sixty-five I think I understand the difficulties and ambiguities in the endeavor of stuttering therapy. In my small way, sometimes interpreted by some SLPs as egoistically confrontational, I really do want to help other people who stutter.
In a small way you did misunderstand me. I really meant that often a person will abdicate from the "right" to be an air traffic controller, a trial lawyer, and a clinical psychologist. Let me repeat again: I have KNOWN people who would not even consider careers in this category.
The question I was asking was: can you REDUCE the severity enough for a person to PERFORM these tasks within acceptable limits of the profession.
Then if the dudes & dudettes have a psychological hang-up in pursuing their life goals maybe I or, I hope a horde of stuttering clinical psychologists, (that will follow me in that profession – now there is a bit of egoistic ideation here :-) ) can convince them that THEIR DYSFLUENT SPEECH is not the pivotal element in performing their tasks.
Just plain ol’ Gunars :-)
p.s. If I had any sense I would be lying on a sandy beach…but I really think that I can help…or is it just a delusion? :-)
p.p.s. I really do hope that others will jump into these murky waters. Now that the "shark" has taken out his dentures. :-)