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From: Lynne Shields
Date: 10/2/03
Time: 12:55:00 PM
Remote Name: 199.217.208.172
Brent,
I, too, am not aware of any research on performance and stuttering. I can report anecdotal information from several of my clients who experience a lack of or minimal amount of stuttering when they are 'performing', albeit not on stage. I saw a man a few years ago who was studying to be a minister. He reported that he was almost totally fluent when giving a sermon. He brought a videotape of one of his sermons, and, indeed, he was quite fluent. He attributed his ability to be fluent in this situation to the amount of rehearsal he did prior to a sermon. He reported that he was generally fairly disfluent when leading a study group or participating in a men's breakfast at his church, examples of job-related tasks where he did not rehearse ahead of time. Another client reported that she is quite fluent when making presentations at work. She also indicated that she rehearsed for these events.
It is an interesting phenomenon, which might shed some light on the nature of stuttering if it could be examined. I'm not sure how much clinical application could be gleaned from such a study, though, as many professions don't lend themselves to rehearsed presentations, role-changes, and so forth.
Thaniks for your post.
Regards,
Lynne