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From: Ken St. Louis
Date: 10/8/03
Time: 9:05:05 AM
Remote Name: 157.182.12.31
Dear Adele,
I’ll be a bit sarcastic here. [I’m sorry, I can’t help myself sometimes. ;-) ] The most difficult aspect of stuttering that a client must overcome is dealing with the difficulty of getting the #$%& words out.
End of sarcasm…. That being said, there are mine fields hiding in this simple, straightforward statement. The first evidence of the validity of my statement is that stuttering is almost never something that is desirable. Most stutterers do not like stuttering and do a whole host of things to hide it, minimize it, or seek help for it. (I have only met one adult stutterer in my life who reported that he always rather enjoyed his stuttering.)
“Not stuttering” is the goal of most of the clients who first come to see us. And why not? They can’t get their words out consistently and easily. From most of recorded history, there are accounts of therapies, devices, and concoctions that were purported to eliminate the occurrence of stuttering. And 2003 is no exception. There is no lack of new and old devices and therapies being advertised that will greatly reduce or eliminate stuttering. This is exactly what most clients are hoping to find. For those lucky individuals who are successful in eliminating, minimizing, or otherwise successfully treating their stuttering, this is a clear “win-win” situation.
Unfortunately, there are many stutterers who find that the stutter-removing devices or therapies don’t work for them, work only temporarily, require too much effort, produce undesirable side effects or life circumstances, or otherwise are unsatisfactory. What are these people to do? Some give up; some decide to “live with” the stuttering more successfully (e.g., by confronting it and stopping all avoidance); some keep seeking the elusive “cure”; some are confused.
So when you ask what is the most difficult aspect of stuttering that a client must overcome, you must first find out if this person could be successful in doing what he or she most probably initially wanted: getting rid of the problem entirely. If so, then the answer was finding that “cure.” If that did not work, and if often does not, then the answer is entirely different. It depends on what the person decides—with or without the advice of others—to do next. If it is to learn to live well in spite of stuttering, then perhaps the most difficult thing the person has to do is what Dale mentioned: decide it is OK to stutter. And then take the difficult steps in risk and self-disclosure to make that happen.
There are lots of other answers. People are different. Different people seek and need different solutions. Each solution presents its own unique set of problems. My advice is to get to know your client. Listen to his or her story (or the parents’ stories) and then sit down and try to work out a plan that meets that person’s needs. You will find what is most difficult and hopefully some ways to help the person overcome the challenges inherent in the course of action you jointly planned.
Best wishes,
Ken