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From: Craig Coleman
Date: 10/9/02
Time: 8:12:40 AM
Remote Name: 151.195.14.237
Bob,
You have done an excellent job turning something so negative into a positive. This is a valuable lesson for all SLPs, especially those who treat PWS. Many things come to mind that I would like to comment on, but I'll bring up just a few for the sake of time and anybody who reads this post and doesn't have a few hours to kill! :)
First, it seems unlikely that telling any PWS that their goal is "100% fluency" would make their stuttering BETTER. Since most speakers have some disfluencies in their speech, this goal is not very realistic.
Second, we are sending a bad message to PWS and those who do not stutter by implying that fluency can be controlled all the time. One thing I usually tell school-age kids who are having a difficult time with teasing is that other kids who don't know anything about stuttering may think that you can control it because you have some good days where you may barely stutter and other days where you stutter a lot. I would hope that SLPs know better than that.
Finally, I hope your article made a few more people "get it." :)
Good work!
Craig Coleman