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From: Klaas Bakker
Date: 07 Oct 2005
Time: 09:43:29 -0500
Remote Name: 146.7.150.239
Tom, your comments are very insightful. There is more to stuttering than stuttering itself! However, in my answer I was merely referring to the implied need of the stuttering modification and behavior therapy type interventions to make changes in overt behaviors, which shouldn't be there in the case of clients with covert stuttering. It wouldn't seem a meaningful goal to target the stuttering which isn't there in a physical observable sense. I do believe (but where area the data?) that there may be a great deal of (successful?) avoidance that accounts for the absence of stuttering in those who still consider themselves as stutters. Avoidance may well have overt aspects that can be addressed either in stuttering modification of behavior therapy. Also, stuttering modification is not strictly only looking at the overt speech related dysfluencies but does look beyond. These are just some refinements in the statements I made. I do believe that the most effective way to treat cover stuttering is to target what is obviously there, the covert concerns, feelings and attitudes that continue to be a problem for the client. Research addressing covert stuttering, I think, should address these variables head on for discovering more about this unique problem and how often it occurs.