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From: Bob Quesal
Date: 10/8/02
Time: 8:53:27 AM
Remote Name: 143.43.201.67
Thanks for the nice comments, Melissa. You raise a couple of interesting points. The first, about "readiness to change" applies, I think, to most things in life. On my website I have posted an essay titled "The role of the client in stuttering therapy" where I talk about some of the issues related to how important it is that clients and clinicians work together to achieve success in stuttering treatment. My feeling is that if the client does not want to change, not much will be accomplished.
Your second point, about a nonstuttering clinician relating to a stutterer, is actually pretty basic. I think what people who don't stutter have to realize is that stutterers can't just turn their fluency off and on, that it's not a question of "just trying harder," and, as I point out, THE BEHAVIOR VARIES. Just because a stutterer is fluent in one situation means absolutely nothing about other situations.
I think it all boils down to basic compassion and human decency. A good SLP should have those. Not all do, unfortunately.
Thanks again for your post.
Bob Q.