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From: Cassaundra Corbett Miller, graduate student at West Virginia University
Date: 21 Oct 2004
Time: 15:12:35 -0500
Remote Name: 157.182.245.66
I am a speech pathology graduate student at West Virginia University. Recently I had the opportunity to attend a support group meeting for people who stutter. During the meeting the members of the support group had a discussion about how they feel when others are “bad listeners.” Constant agreement and nodding of the head, finishing thoughts for the person who stutters, and backing away slowly are some of the behaviors that were deemed as negative. The members said that when people do these kinds of things it makes them very irritated and also makes them feel as if the person they are talking to views them as intellectually inferior. I was very pleased to read your article and see that listening is an issue of importance. Just by following some simple guidelines, such as the ones you mentioned, we can help make many people, not just those who stutter, more confident in their speech.