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From: Retz
Date: 12 Oct 2004
Time: 09:19:32 -0500
Remote Name: 206.40.121.138
Julie- Thanks for your comments. I agree with you 100% re: your observation of listening with the people we serve having speech disorders. When it comes to the successful treatment of stuttering, Therapuetic Listening is essential for a base. I do not know what causes stuttering....I do know what decreases it and what increases it. When working with children who stutter -- and I'm not talking about those 80% of children exhibiting dysfluency/disfluency many professionals claim to "cure" -- I mean stutter -- the desire to be listened to is of the utmost importance to the child. Real stuttering will reveal itself over a course of time. As a professional, to me, it really turns on what your goals are. The single most devastating -- and routine-- outcome for those of us who stutter --the ultimate stuttering behavior-- is to choose silence after years of "therapy" centering on stopping, controlling or modifying stuttering. I mean, if your a person who stutters, you stutter...and you can also talk! Why not work on talking more? My experience is that if your professional therapy appraoch with CWS/TWS and their parents has the foundation of Listening, in no way will the ultimate stuttering behavior be an outcome possibility. Children loved to be listened to. Dean Williams used to always say "Children live in the NOW"...."Therapuetic Listening", when consistently used over time, will decrease communication apprehension (or fear, or whatever you choose to label it), and definitely increase the release of natural speech--talking-- the CWS already possesses. Listening is a learned behavior, and typically is ignored by professionals to utilize as a therapy technique. Helping parents learn how to really utilize this skill with their CWS is THE MOST DIFFICULT Challenge for me-- and yet, I know it is the most effective tool for preventing the ultimate stuttering behavior. There is no cure for stuttering....but if you are a PWS, you sure can talk more...even if you do stutter! Now, on the flip side, I can tell you that if a therapy approach centers on stopping, controlling, or modifying a child's speech when they stutter, you will definitely increase the chances of the ULTIMATE Stuttering BEHAVIOR (SILENCE)occuring. All you have to do is turn your head around and look at the millions of PWS who have chosen silence over the course of the last 60 years of therapy whose goals were to stop/control/modify stuttering. A horrific outcome.... I would encourage you to attend an NSA or FRIENDS event and listen to the kids, teens, or adults who stutter. I have never heard any of us use any techniques or tools at those events. (We do tend to use them in the presence of SLPS!!! :) ) STUTTERING HAS TO BE LEAGALIZED :) and it is at these happenings. My best regards to you Julie in your future professional works. Working with kids who stutter and their parents is the finest privelage I have ever had.