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From: Dick Mallard
Date: 16 Oct 2005
Time: 22:51:26 -0500
Remote Name: 70.113.124.96
Kristen, you ask good questions. Thanks for your interest. The outcome for this child is similar to other children we see. I must say, however, that what we do is really not traditional. We work with the entire family. This model is more efficient than working with the child alone. I would never go back to a traditional model of working with the client alone. Working with the client and his/her communicative environment gives the person who stutters much more chance for success than working individually. I might add that I had the opportunity to meet this child's entire family, including grandparents and great grandparents on both sides plus his aunt. Jill and I were able to explain to all of them what the goals of treatment were and why we were emphasizing speech control instead of fluency. We made a progress report video and demonstrated to everyone the changes that he was making. We had a very nice question and answer period at the end. When the entire family is on the same page, obviously his chances of improving are enhanced. This child was able to transfer his speech to the school setting quite well. He is not receiving speech therapy at school. This year he discussed his speech with a teacher on his own. I am not concerned about his transfer skills at this point. The beauty of the web camera is the ability to communicate frequently, in person, with video. Since this family lives over 200 miles from me, we can visit as often as we like. I can provide as much reinforcement as needed; I can also provide guidance when that guidance is needed without them having to take a day to come here and then go back home. All things considered, this model has worked very well. I plan to continue encouraging all the families I see to use this technology. Thanks again for writing. If you have other questions, please let me know.