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From: Steve Hood
Date: 10/3/02
Time: 9:17:46 AM
Remote Name: 199.33.133.50
Hi, Bob. Several weeks after the SID-4 meeting where this incident occurred, I had the honor and pleasure of hearing both you and Larry Molt talk about this issue at the NSA Sponsored research symposium in Anaheim. My already high respect for you guys was elevated another notch. You guys have a lot of class and are indeed, fine role models. I find myself going back to a very basis issue: Namely, what does your 'adversary' mean when he talks about "normally fluent?" When I think of "normaly fluent" I think of spontaneous, unmonitored fluency spoken in the absence of fluency related negative emotion. I think of a person who speaks with normal "speech naturalness," which he doesn't need to "control." So, if a person has been through some type of fluency shaping therapy where he learns to "hit his targets" and speaks with "controlled fluency" -- I wonder if this would be perceived by your adversary as "normally fluent." It seems to me that fluency is more than the absence of stuttering. Fluency that is achieved and maintained by extensive control, constant vigilence and full-time monitoring takes a lot of work, both physical and mental. It's a high price to pay, and often there is a loss of 'speech naturalness.' Merely counting the frequency of disfluency and stuttering is a pretty terrible measure of severity, and a terrible indicator of a successful outcome, as any avoidance-prone, covert-interiorized PWS will attest. I rather enjoy listening to presentations made by people such as yourself and Larry Molt (and a ton of other PWS/SLP's who will remain un-named) because you guys are spontanerous, natural, enlightening, knowledgeable, and humorous, etc. Any residuals of disfluency and stuttering do not interfere with getting your message across. With the notable exception of a few folks who **don't get it** the rest of the audience is listening to the message of what you say and not how you say it. People are so interested in the message that they don't have time to sit there doing frequency counts. If there are PWS who seek and achieve controlled fluency with which they feel comfortable, so be it. This is fine. But this should not be a prerequisite for effectiveness as an SLP. You are a positive role model because you are an effective communicator. Stuttering doesn't dictate the decisions you make. Thanks, Bob, for contributing such a fine paper for ISAD-2002.