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From: Brynn Rhodes, graduate student
Date: 10/12/03
Time: 5:07:12 PM
Remote Name: 67.50.234.142
Thank you for an insightful article, Mr. Anders. As a graduate student under Mrs. Kuster I feel privileged to have had more exposure than many students to the puzzle of stuttering, but still as overwhelmed as others at the vast amount I do not know about this disorder. Herein lies my question for you. I am posting here under Mr. Feuer's comments because his post sparked my question. To be honest I have not read all of Dr. Van Riper's writings. I think I have a general understanding of his approach to treatment, however. As a student without experience it always made alot of sense intuitively to me. Now I am an intern in a school with a couple of students who are dysfluent. My question, then, is: Is it appropriate for me to practice Van Riper's approach to stuttering therapy when I myself do not stutter (much) and I don't have a full understanding of his theories? What is your opinion? I know all brand-new SLPs are nervous and unsure of themselves (or should be). And maybe I should not consider my dysfluent students any more "fragile" than other students with comm impairments. However, I worry when it comes to pushing too hard with teens who stutter. Is this approach "safe" for their immature minds which are not always rational? I'm tiptoeing around the real question here. I'm afraid of pushing a teen too far because I've worked with teens considering suicide (outside of speech pathology field). I know not all PWS have "issues" but I'm referring to those that do have many avoidance behaviors, even to the point of choosing not to talk as you did for so long. Is "picking and choosing Van Riper techniques, cafeteria style" going to harm my students? I agree that a multidisciplinary approach would be ideal, because goodness knows I'm not a psychologist. But in the public schools that's not always an option. Is a little Van Riperian therapy for 30 minutes twice a week going to be better than nothing or will it do more harm than good, in your opinion? Thank you for your time.