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From: Greg Snyder
Date: 08 Oct 2006
Time: 19:40:04 -0500
Remote Name: 207.68.248.51
Hi Vasu. Interesting line of discussion, but I wonder if we’re simply not on the same page. You wrote: [Call me crazy, but I am not sure why people cannot have sign-related anxiety or penmanship anxiety as I think these could come from a deeper performance related anxiety. I find it hard to be as dismissive as you are about their possibility.] In which my response would be that anything stemming from the psychological perspective in relation to stuttering is likely pseudoscientific in nature, and subsequently has no real merit--as it provides ex post facto explanations that offer little true validity. Here’s an example--even Bloodstein (1995) admits that there is no psychological evidence suggesting that stuttering stems from psychological abnormalities. However, just a few pages later- -he bluntly states that it must be psychological! It’s as if he’s choosing to believe what he wants to believe, regardless of the data. So when there’s a study that measures the psychological characteristics of children BEFORE stuttering emerges, and then finds a significant (and predicting) correlation between a psychological trait and the emergence of stuttering--I’ll begin paying attention. Until then, I’m just not buyin’. Stuart (1999) wrote an excellent hit-piece on the psychological perspective. If you’re interested in reading why it serves no real purpose relative to stuttering research, it’s definitely worth your time. … … … … … And I certainly won’t debate a point that some of the existing treatments help people; certainly this is what really counts in life. Perhaps we differ in our level of tolerance for the current treatment paradigm? I certainly cede that something is better than nothing; however, there have been no significant improvements in stuttering treatment in some 50 years. This is a shameful reality that the field of SLP needs to address. Had the etiological perspectives on the disorder been more “truly scientific” from the start, we may be farther along… I certainly agree that issues such as “stuttering well” and self-acceptance are some of the best (current) options out there; however, I also think that when self-acceptance is a vital part of the treatment paradigm of a pathology… well, we have a long long way to go.