Reactive or Proactive: How Do You Respond to Stuttering?

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How do you respond to stuttering

From: Shaundrika Stevenson
Date: 21 Oct 2006
Time: 23:03:50 -0500
Remote Name: 72.224.53.222

Comments

I’m a graduate student at The College of St. Rose currently taking a fluency course and I am working with two preschool boys who stutter. This is my first semester working with individuals who stutters. When you stated, “the way you listen or react to moments of stuttering can have adverse effects on the speaker” I began thinking about my therapy session with my clients. With one of my client’s the child’s father is in denial about the stuttering and at first didn’t approve of his child going to therapy. As a student clinician providing services I continued to emphasize the importance of incorporating the family goals at home. As time has gone on throughout the semester the mother reports that her husband is slowly coming around to the fact that his son is a stutterer. What are some suggestions you have on getting the father to have a more proactive reaction style when his child is stuttering? I ask this question, because he isn’t involved within the sessions like his wife however, the mother provides me with feedback that appears that the father is critiquing his son’s stuttering. I’m also curious about how you would approach a parent who hasn’t come to terms with the fact that their child stutters and does not play a part in therapy or even appear interested. This article has also help to remind me of what kind of clinician I want to be when working with an individual who stutters. I also have to keep in mind how a parent of child who stutters must feel when approaching therapy for this child. I loved how you emphasized that stuttering is what it means to the person who stutters. I thought it was powerful when you stated, “Do we want them to hold in mind that they are disabled and need special provisions, or that they are independent and worthy?” Thank you for putting together an article that attempts to help parents, teachers, SLPs, and others support a person who stutters.


Last changed: 10/23/06