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From: Ed Feuer
Date: 10/3/03
Time: 10:30:20 AM
Remote Name: 142.161.176.94
Janet, I am always struck by the reluctance of the SLP's to bring in not "yet another expert" but the reluctance to bring in any other expert.
1. First of all there has to be a recognition that a multidisciplinary team is required. I did a "Google" on multidisciplinary team approach and the first thing that came up was the multidisciplinary team treating epilepsy at the department of neurology at Wayne State University’s Detroit Medical Centre at: http://www.med.wayne.edu/neurology/ClinicalPrograms/Epilepsy/multi.html
"The program provides comprehensive epilepsy care through the activities of a dedicated multidisciplinary team that includes four adult neurologists/epileptologists, one pediatric neurologist/epileptologist, one adult neurosurgeon, one pediatric neurosurgeon, adult and pediatric neuropsychologists, adult and pediatric epilepsy nurse coordinators, neuroradiologists, and psychiatrists. Highly trained EEG technologists, epilepsy nurses, and social workers complete the epilepsy program’s team."
The developer of this team obviously didn't quibble about bringing in yet another expert but focused on results.
2. Last time I looked at the SID4 fluency specialty site on ASHA I saw under professional issues something called "multidisciplinary interaction." I would like to take that seriously and hope the SID4 people begin to pay more than lip service to this long overdue idea in the treatment of stuttering.
3. What I take most seriously is Van Riper's statement — his credo — on page 201 of The Treatment of Stuttering in his chapter headed Our Therapeutic Approach: "We feel that stuttering needs a global therapy, a total push, if it is to yield to clinical intervention and that it must be attack from every quarter with every available weapon."
Think about that, Janet, from every quarter with every available weapon. What a concept! But that has not happened. I would like that to happen. For those who are new to this issue, I invite you to read my brief futuristic essay entitled In The Year 2025. It's on the Stuttering Home Page at http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/comdis/kuster/TherapyWWW/In2025.html
4. Finally, concerning PTSD, how many SLPs receive sufficient training, indeed any training, in this area? How can you deny that it would not be beneficial for a stuttering client to have an expert in PTSD possessing the necessary tools from outside speech-language pathology working together with an SLP?