Applying the Wisdom of Psychology to Stuttering

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Re: Van Riper & psychology

From: John Wade
Date: 10/16/03
Time: 1:06:55 PM
Remote Name: 129.237.191.219

Comments

Ed,

I think that's a great quote from Van Riper. As he points out, I don't think that the characterization applies to all people who stutter, but I do agree that for many people it is probably very difficult to acknowledge and accept our stuttering. I think one characteristic of stuttering that makes it especially difficult to deal with is the variability. It is hard not to expect that our fluency should magically be like it is on our best day every day, or conversely, not to assume that our worst speech day defines us.

I think that self-help groups, such as the NSA offer a tremendous opportunity to look at our stuttering from another perspective, that of seeing other people stutter and the role it plays in their lives. My experience is/was that stuttering seemed to occupy a large part of how I identified myself, but when interacting with other people, only a small part of how I identified them.

Thanks for the feedback Ed.

John


Last changed: September 12, 2005