Stuttering Therapy: Clinic vs. Real World

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Dynamite story! And a few questions & comments

From: Gunars K. Neiders
Date: 10/2/01
Time: 9:17:19 PM
Remote Name: 12.13.226.14

Comments

Bobby,

This was really a dynamite of a story! It is inspirational even to those of us who are managing our stuttering quite well.

There is a small irony in the story. The last sentence in seventh paragraph reads: "The clinic staff told my parents that I was a hopeless case and would never be cured of stuttering and probably would end up in jail for the rest of my life." Well, it was not far from truth :-): you are at the Detention Center now :-). I hope that when you finish your graduate program you will have escaped the Detention Center :-) :-)!

My questions to you, Bobby are:

1) Did any of your student clinicians model in real world what they wanted you to do using voluntary pseudo stuttering as base?

2) Don't you think that if the student clinicians would have modeled all of the different assignments in real world that you would have had an easier time in doing these assignments?

3) Did Dr. Leeper, as a supervisor, sometimes go out with the student clinicians and model in the real world what she wanted you to do using pseudo stuttering?

4) Don't you think that this type of modeling would be especially significant in dealing with teenagers?

5) Don't you think that even with young children when the therapist goes out in the real world and models voluntary pseudo stuttering the little tyke would be so much more at ease and desensitize himself better?

6) David Shapiro talks about his therapists when he was young and says that the best one he had let him talk instead of telling him a lot of stuff. Don't you think that a therapist who walked and talked with you in public while just showing you that he is willing and able to do voluntary pseudo stuttering, without asking you to do any assignments would have still helped you to get desensitized?

I also agree with you that trying to make a living out of suing other people is in the long run very counterproductive. The time and energy is so much better spent on working on improving your skills and talents.

Gunars

p.s. I also have found that minimal stuttering in the work environment once you are hired is very well tolerated. Remember that the retired CEO and Chairman of Board at GE also stuttered. I have seen him on television and on a tape on management techniques and he does have minimal stuttering. And Jack Welch is considered to be the best manager of the 20th Century. He has raised at least six other CEOs that I know of. And General Electric is one of the biggest companies in the world.


Last changed: September 12, 2005