[ Contents | Search | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Russ Hicks
Date: 21 Oct 2006
Time: 20:33:24 -0500
Remote Name: 71.123.208.188
Hi Melodie, ..... To be totally honest, the speech therapy I received back in the 1950 (when the earth's crust was just cooling <grin>) was only a very primitive form of what, I believe, would LATER become fluency shaping. I believe that Ron Webster (?) coined the term "Precision Fluency Shaping" at Hollins much later. And that's more of a marketing name (it SOUNDS cool) than it is a true fluency technique. We used the simple term "speech controls" in my days. And that consisted primarily of relaxation, slow speech, phrasing (good use of pauses and breathing) and blending (now called light contact and continuous phonation). The objective was NOT to stutter AT ALL, rather than learn how to deal with the stuttering itself. The ideas of emotions and attitudes didn't come into play until several years later and were later explained in pictorial form by the Iceberg Analogy of Stuttering. See my paper on the stuttering iceberg at http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/isad6/papers/hicks6.html for details of this. The iceberg - one of the most fundamental breakthroughs in understanding stuttering in the last 50 years - wasn't even conceived until about 1970 and wasn't really publicized until nearly 2000. The people in my camp were clueless on the emotional/psychological baggage beneath the waterline of the iceberg so they never even thought to treat it! No wonder my therapy failed. But it wasn't their fault. It wasn't anyone's fault really. We just didn't know. ..... You also asked, "Did you use these techniques outside of the camp? If so, How often?" Oh yeah. After camp I used them all the time - until they began to fail on me after about month. I took private therapy using the camp materials and techniques for quite a while, maybe once a week for the winter months when camp wasn't in session. But it never helped me in the long run. It's like holding a ten pound weight at arm's length. Sure you can do it for a minute or two, but for a lifetime? No way! Without the knowledge of the stuttering iceberg, and concentrating only on fluency, failure is almost a certainty. ..... It's only since I learned (by experience) of the iceberg and all of the emotions and attitudes involved with stuttering that I began to make real progress. But even today I can attain nearly perfect fluency - for a short time - by using those old fluency shaping techniques. The bad news is that it doesn't last. ..... Does this answer your questions? ..... And thanks for your kind words on my paper. That means a lot to me. ..... I wish you the best, Melodie. ..... Russ, my email is russhicks@mail.com