[ Contents | Search | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Sheri Linder
Date: 20 Oct 2004
Time: 22:49:00 -0500
Remote Name: 67.172.195.21
I just read your parents as partners article from 2 (?) years ago and was wondering if you could help me understand the "direct" approach in preschool stuttering treatment. I am a PWS and have a 33 month old girl currently in therapy for beginning stuttering. We are doing Fun with Fluency. We were basically doing indirect for about 3 months with some progress. Our clinician went 'direct' on her and I believe at this point her stuttering got alot worse because we called her attention to it. We had a week of being alot more dysfluent and my anxiety got so high I was calling our therapist almost everyday. She said she was probably having a down cycle. Eventually, she leveled out again but I am not very direct with her. After reading your article I wonder if it is common for it to get worse before it gets better after going direct. She is back to being unaware of her dysfluency and I really play it down like, "that seemed hard, Mommy has a hard time too sometimes", etc... I also praise her for random times when she is fluent, "wow! That was really good talking!" I also try to put in perspective all that she is learning along with being a "smooth talker", " We are working really hard on using the potty, smooth talking and sharing our toys". As a PWS it was so hard to see her trying so hard after she became aware that she should do something about it. I did not let her know how anxious I was about her stuttering but I know she noticed the extra time I spent holding her and I also kept her out of preschool that week because I was afraid she would not get all the time she needed to communicate. I know I am rambling on but I feel like I really need to know that it is OK to point it out to her and try some direct therapy. Your article suggests that direct therapy is essential to her progress. Also, do you think Lidcombe is for us at this time? Are you familiar with Fun with Fluency? Thank you for your time and consideration.