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From: Joseph Dewey joseph_dewey@hotmail.com
Date: 24 Oct 2005
Time: 07:17:44 -0500
Remote Name: 67.182.228.63
Hi Alexis, thanks very much for your question. I've researched everything that I can on cluttering, but I haven't done very much research on stuttering. I've bought and read all of the books published in English on cluttering. These include all of the books in my references, plus one called "Studies in Tachyphemia." I've also read the cluttering chapter in many stuttering books. Stuttering is really pretty different from cluttering, so I haven't researched too much with stuttering. I think stuttering research is fascinating, but I think that the cure for cluttering is much different from the cure for cluttering, so I'm trying to use different sources of inspiration for my research than traditional stuttering ones. Therapy is always an interesting question because there is so little known on what will help cluttering. Here is a therapy-like technique that I developed with a dance instructor. Sit opposite the clutterer, with a surface (table or floor) between you. One person starts, and with their hands, makes some kind of repeatable rhythm with their hands. (e.g. tap-tap bop, tap-tap bop, tap-tap bop etc.) The person sitting opposite mimics the rhythm until they are fully repeating the rhythm. After they "get it" fully and can do it, then the turn passes, and the other person "creates" a rhythm. It doesn’t matter what the rhythm is, as long as it’s repeatable. This may seem like a subtle activity, but it is fun and it really cuts to the core of the clutterer’s problem, which is disrhythmia. It also helps clutterers come to terms with themselves, because they can find the rhythm within themselves, even if it's pretty disrhythmic. This activity also can be used as a foundation for speech, because one of the things that clutterers lack is any kind of rhythm or pattern to their speech. Speech is extremely complex and difficult, and so breaking it down into a small activity like this, and having the clutterer succeed at this can be extremely helpful. Another thing about this activity is that it’s a method of communication for the clutterer, and the clutterer may have never been able to communicate this intensely and purely before, so it could be a really cool thing for the clutterer. Thanks for the questions. Joseph