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From: Walt Manning
Date: 10/7/03
Time: 9:30:35 AM
Remote Name: 141.225.97.53
Professional help and self-help groups (good ones) are one and the same. The first NSA (then NSP) meeting I attended in 1989 was not quite like that. I was an outsider - as a generally fluent speaker even though I am a PWS and especially as an SLP. I know other PWS who, now being fluent, have experienced some of the same feelings. People at self-help meeting are there to help and if you don't appear to have the problem it's not so easy to help. That has changed and there are a lot of SLPs who attend groups like the NSA. I tell my students and those attending workshops that if you really want to understand the stuttering experience attend at least one of the national meetings of the NSA (or similar groups). If you've even been involved in a self help group you will eventually (after a few meetings) see the positive and often essential help they can provide. Like selecting clinicians, it helps to choose (the group) wisely. I think formal treatment and self-help attendence can go hand0in-hand. It is also very helpful to attend a self-help group following formal treatment to keep the stuttering from getting hot and to provide help to others.