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From: Walt
Date: 10/16/03
Time: 4:54:55 PM
Remote Name: 141.225.97.53
Merissa- thanks for your question. Sure, I don't think forced humor will work anyway. Some clients are so anxious and afraid of stuttering -even in my mouth let alone theirs- that they will see absolutely nothing funny about stuttering. That's why is is so great when the begin to do so. I would go very slowly with any desensitization or identification activities if they are like that. I've had clients like that. Usually though, after a few sessions when they begin to trust you you can begin to probe a bit and be yourself by smiling or showing how interested you are in them and their unique ways of stuttering and talking about their stuttering. I sometimes spontaniously say "that was really intersting stuttering" (and mean it). I've had people laugh and say "No one ever told me that before. They just thought it was strange." As we become desensitized about stuttering we will see it as an interesting and fun phenomena to work with and the people are generally fun and interesting. That spontaniety and interrests translates quite easily to looking at the problem from different (including humorous) angles. So I guess I'd wait until I felt comfortable probing a bit but mostly I'd react naturally and spontaniously to the client. Hope that provides somewhat of an answer for you.