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From: Tim
Date: 23 Oct 2004
Time: 16:44:58 -0500
Remote Name: 68.219.104.59
Good questions. Confidence is a vague word. May I suggest that a person with less anxiety about stuttering will improve as they relax physically and mentally. FOr example, a child who is anxious about stuttering during an oral presentation. He clearly lacks confidence in speaking. He may however be confident in sports, etc. What triggers the anxiety about stuttering? What does he think and feel about stuttering that manifests anxiety (and no confidence)? Is he mind-reading his listeners? Will he feel embarrassment after stuttering? You've heard of the "ABC's" of stuttering, right? Affect, Behaviors, Cognitions. Two of the three are NOT physical speech mechanics. However, A & C can translate into blocking. Any adolescent-adult with confirmed stuttering will benefit from more confidence. This usually means that they wil require cognitive reorganization to change how they think and feel. It is a feeling of resourcefulness (perhaps confident) that allows one to use speech targets (i.e., rate control) successfully. In my ramble here I wanted to paint a picture of waht is behind confidence; or the lack of. Adolescents, teens, and adults benefit from mapping to consolidate and integrate the multifactorial parts that make up the disorder of stuttering. We specialists can sit on decades of experience and info that we desire to get into our client's heads in an efficient manner...with permanence. Mapping is superb. Cheers, Tim