"Empathy Based Practice" in Stuttering

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Re: A comparison and question

From: Bob Quesal
Date: 21 Oct 2005
Time: 13:06:38 -0500
Remote Name: 143.43.201.240

Comments

Hi Katie: You raise a number of interesting issues. Certainly, if someone gets the message that stuttering is bad and must be avoided at all costs, the solution will most likely be to hide it by avoiding speech and speaking situations. Part of empathy should be to understand that people cope with their stuttering in different ways. Regarding adolescents who stutter - I agree that trying to show empathy to teens can be challenging. I think rather than saying things like "I know how you feel" (which we are often tempted to do), it is better to say things like "That must be very difficult. I'd be interested to know more." That shows that we are willing to listen without judging. We can often problem-solve with teens, too - "Have you ever thought about this way of doing things?" Again, the idea is not that the teen is wrong, it's simply offereing up another option for discussion. If you are a good listener, a teen will often open up and tell you things that he/she would not tell others. From there, you can develop a hierarchy of things to address clinically, related both to speech/stuttering and reactions to speech/stuttering. I hope this helps. Best of luck in your studies. Bob Q.


Last changed: 10/24/05