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From: Katie Dauer
Date: 20 Oct 2004
Time: 19:48:17 -0500
Remote Name: 67.4.189.251
Dear Dori, I am responding to your article for several reasons. Based on what you have written, I believe I was either the 3rd or 4th therapist that your son Eli saw for direct services. First of all I am sorry that I did not give you all that you needed as a parent to make it through this “blip on the radar”. I guess that is where we as therapists might make mistakes. We may be doing all we think we can, but we don’t always really know all the needs of parents. Secondly, because I know the importance of being up to date in this disorder, I order everything that I can possibly order to read, to view on video tape from ASHA, the NSA, friends and The Stuttering Foundation of America and the MSU Stuttering Home page and I go to every conference that I can possibly fit in to my schedule to help me be the best that I can be. I prided myself on the fact that I thought I involved parents and families to a great extent because I realize its importance. Thirdly,I have always given parents a Stuttering Foundation of America brochure and asked them to order several tapes and books that they have available for the age of the client. I also suggest that parents of school age children order the book “Sometimes I just stutter" to share with family and to read with the child to help the parents and child be open about the disorder. In my waiting room for several years, I have had several binders which include all the newsletters from Friends and the NSA and other relevant information for PWS. Presently after all of my initial evaluations, I do a one hour consultation with both parents to discuss what I understand about stuttering and to address the parent’s concerns and answer any questions they may have about their child’s disorder. I have also recently started a support group for school age stutterers which occurs after hours and is free to clients who have been or are presently clients at the clinic. In regard to Eli’s therapy, I do recall inviting you in before seeing ELI and sometimes after and sometimes you were their throughout the therapy session. I also remember inviting Eli’s brothers in to get them involved and to attempt to get better carryover. I recall that I had advised therapy at least 2X/week, but because you lived such a long distance from the clinic, we agreed to do lX per week as long as you carried out a special time at home where Eli had your special attention, where you modeled appropriate speech behaviors and where the situation was set up so that Eli could be as fluent as possible during that time. We tried many other tools along the way, none of which were real successful and which there isn’t room to discuss here. In hindsight, although seeing Eli 2X/week may not have changed the final result for Eli, it may have given us additional time to deal with your concerns and questions. Lastly, I do not take what you have written personally, but I do take it seriously. I will keep all these things in my mind as I treat children who stutter and their parents in the future. Each of us are works in progress. I know that my work with PWS has evolved through the 20 years of my professional carreer. I believe that I can keep learning and I thank you for your heartfelt information. Katie Dauer, M.S., CCC Speech and language pahtologist Board Recognized Fluency Specialist