[ Contents | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Andreas Starke
Date: 10/20/02
Time: 5:48:54 AM
Remote Name: 80.129.232.166
Dear Mohammad,
thank you for responding to my paper.
> What kind of motivation would you recommend for starting the body-mind connection?
I have a problem understanding what you mean by "motivation." I hope you want to know about how to start the body mind connecting. Please note that I didn’t talk about "body-mind connection" in my paper. I wanted to call attention to different body-mind states that we all experience. "Being fluent" as a person who stutters is one expression / one consequence of a certain body-mind state. It certainly is part of a certain body state, I expect that we can measure the relevant parameters very soon which allow us to predict whether a person will stutter or not 10 seconds before they will start to speak. That’s the motor set. And there is a certain mind set which makes fluent speech more probable.
But I don’t like to make a clear distinction between body and mind, because what we observe are only different aspects of the same thing. Holistic thinking does not mean not to forget that there is a mind besides the body or not to forget that there is a body besides your mind, it means overcoming that awful dualism altogether. Every human being is one, body and mind, at least until we die. And then? We’ll see.
> What does one need to create their own laboratory?
No need for any creation, it’s already there. You only have to become aware of it. Please read my answert to Heidi Wolak-Faber.
> How would this method help a child?
I think in the same way as it helps a teen or an adult. The difference might be that with a young child you can rely much more on the experience itself and need much less explanation.
I have a nine year old boy in therapy right now. What his parents and teachers had observed was that he would refuse to answer or stop in the middle of an utterance refusing to continue. Lately he has started to whisper and to use pencil and paper to communicate. In a moment of refusal I asked him, "Do you know which word you want to say next?" He said, "Yes". "Where would your tongue have to go when you would try to say that word?" He smiled and shook his head. "If you want to say the word 'table', your tongue has to touch a place behind your upper teeth … Try it … t t t t t … Okay, can you feel it? … Can you feel your tongue tip touching? … t t t t t … Okay, very good. Next thing is to put a little voice in. … ta ta ta ta ta … Don’t do it too fast, otherwise you can’t feel it … ta ta ta ta ta … Okay, can you feel it now? Touch you neck with one or two fingers … ta ta ta ta ta … Can you feel the vibration? Can you feel it? … ta ta ta ta ta … That’s the voice, vibration from your throat. Okay. Now, do ta ta ta ta ta and than go on with 'table', but do it slowly, otherwise you can’t feel it. Do it now. … ta ta ta ta ta table … Can you feel it? Mhm. Very good. Okay, next time when you think you can’t say a word, stop and we talk about it …" Of course I used a lot of pauses. [I wish I could use the IPA here. "ta" means "t" and the voiced position of the first vowel of "table"].
He started to use it with the next "difficult" words, and failed when not really "feeling" it. After about ten mindful (and successful) attempts to start saying the word like this he could do it without instructions. Sometimes he laughed when he found himself in the "refusal" state again. Last time I saw him (yesterday) we talked a lot (he had learned the rules of chess recently and explained them to me while we were playing a game) and he didn’t hesitate at all, from time to time he glided into a word, I heard it, his mother heard it, but an unprepared listener wouldn’t even have noticed anything.
Next thing is to contact his school teachers. They already told the mother that they have a completely new picture of my client since they know that he stutters. I expect that he will transfer the "mini-glides" to all speaking situations (adopt a body-mind state in which mini-glides are easily accessible or are accessed automatically). If that happens, he may become completely fluent very soon and stay that way for the rest of his life. A cure! But with 9-year olds that is not unusual at all.
This case may serve as a little example how children may benefit from mindfully manipulating their speech movements.
Best wishes! Andreas