[ Contents | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Steve Hood
Date: 10/8/02
Time: 8:07:00 PM
Remote Name: 205.188.209.11
Hello, Sue
I'd like to give you my take on pseudostuttering assignments. I have used these for many years, and I have students do such things as the traditional "voluntary stuttering" assignment where they are supposed to stutter realistically, in realistic situations. I also have assignments where students are to engage in various "fluency shaping" behaviors (light contacts, easy onsets, etc.) and also where they use "stuttering modification" techniques (stuttering with pullouts, stuttering followed by cancellations, etc.) Another assignment is to talk for 10 minutes with a child, using "turtle talk" (e.g., slower rate by stretching sylables, talking with slightly exaggerated melody/inflection, and talking while allowing about two seconds between speaking and listenening for "turn-taking." Students do some of this alone and some in pairs, and submit a written summary of what transpired.
I am not so naive as to think that this is a perfect assignment. And I am sure some students may have "faked the experience" and submitted a report on their "fantasy" of how it might have been.
I think many/most of the students "get it." They do not fully understand the experience from the viewpoint of the PWS, but they get a vicarious taste of it.
Here are just a few examples of what students have reported:
1. One student complained bitterly that the experience took her 10 hours on a Saturday to complete. She said she had to drive 40 miles away so as not to risk being recognized. She went into about 6 different stores before she finally found a person that she thought would be an 'understanding clerk.' She had to quit one assignment mid stream because some other people entered the store and she didn't want to be seen "stuttering" in front of this group of strangers. She reported feeling guilty because she stuttered and she reported that she felt guilty for putting the listener(s) through the ordeal of seeing and hearing her stuttering.
(2) Another student stuttered while trying on some shoes and boots. She "felt so sorry" for the store clerk that she actually ended up buying a pair of boots costing her $100.00 !!!
I am not saying that these assignments make students "get it" -- but I do believe that these assignments are a step in the direction of helping normally fluent students gain some understanding and appreciation of the plight of the PWS whho faces these siutuations repeatedly.
I also think students can learn a lot from class discussions, where pseudostuttering experiences are shared with one another.
I hope this helps respond to your question. You asked a good question, and I hope others will chime in with their observations and comments.