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From: Nicole Mukavetz
Date: 10/6/03
Time: 5:26:19 PM
Remote Name: 12.207.169.22
Donald, I am another Graduate Student at NIU and participated in Dr. Schwartz's Stuttering Police project. Once this assignment was given in class, I thought "piece of cake" I am an outgoing person, this should not be a problem for me. Right? Wrong! One of my psuedo-stutter experiences occured at Panara Bread Company. I had ingrained in my mind what I was going to order, how to respond, and how I was going to end the conversation. However, I did not take into account waiting in line--full of anxiety and anticipation. I quickly began "freaking out" and wondering who was going to take my order, and which employee I wanted to stutter to just because they looked nice. Had it been that my fellow group members were not there watching me, I probably would have left, or taken the easy way out and spoke fluently. Once I got to the counter and when it was my turn to order I stuttered quite easily--but quietly. I did not want the store manager to hear me--or anyone else. Although I am confident that the employee heard my disfluency, she did not react in the way I had anticipated. This experience taught me a lesson in stuttering behavior that I could not have learned elsewhere. I feel this has made me a better clinician for my client I am working with now in the university clinic. When he tells me his fears and avoidances, I feel I can relate to some sort of degree. We are both on the same wavelength now, which I feel is important for him to control his disfluency, and for me to be a better speech-language pathologist.