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From: Jessica Merritt - Graduate Student, Speech Language Pathology
Date: 10/21/03
Time: 9:39:40 PM
Remote Name: 65.69.49.94
Mr. Mackesey -
Thank you for your informative paper on eye contact aversion with PWS. Before reading your paper, I did not know that maintaining eye contact during speaking can actually decrease the stuttering behavior for some individuals. Also, in one of the previous threads, you had mentioned that some people are more fluent when they watch themselves speak in a mirror. I am amazed by this and am trying to figure out how I can use these theories in therapy. My only concern has to do with whether or not professionals know what 'appropriate' eye contact is. For some, I think it's a matter of personal bias. I have read in a recent research article that some people (especially those with language disorders) need less eye contact to decrease the visual stimulus in order to process the auditory stimulus. Any thoughts on this? I guess an SLP should be aware of this issue in case the client happens to be a PWS as well as a person with a language disability.
Thanks again for your insightful paper!