Stuttering Therapy: Clinic vs. Real World

[ Contents | Next | Previous | Up ]


Re: Clinic vs. Real World

From: Bobby Childers
Date: 10/15/01
Time: 9:06:24 PM
Remote Name: 216.234.197.200

Comments

Mary:

I'm glad you like my article, but you have asked some questions that I'm not really sure I know how to answer. I am not a SLP nor am I a Psychologist/Psychiatrist; I am only a Person Who Stutters for the last 39 years.

I remember well my teenage years (if only I could go back in time with the knowledge I have now….oh well….can’t go back a zillion years). Basically I remember thinking that the adults around me had absolutely no clue as too what I thought, felt or really did.

The younger children shouldn’t be too bad as they haven’t yet developed the “I’m the only one who stutters” and the “adults know nothing” attitudes that teenagers seem to have (or at least I did). Girls from what I have seen (daughter is 24 now, not really sure why I let her live that long) aren’t quite as bad as the boys, but they can be a handful themselves.

With the younger children, you might try and make a “game” out of storytelling. Let them practice with you, then with you and their teacher(s) on telling how it feels to stutter. How the teasing and nasty remarks made by classmates make them feel. Then once they have developed a sense of confidence about their ability to talk to more than one person, have their teacher(s) assign a class project to write a short story about themselves. Write about a favorite vacation, or pet, or just about them. Then have your clients tell the story that they have been telling you and their teachers to their classmates. They may feel apprehensive about it, but since they have been “practicing” the story for a time, they shouldn’t have too many problems with it. This would serve two purposes, (1) it would enlighten the entire class about stuttering and some of the associated feelings, and (2) it would give your clients a chance to prove to the rest of their classmates that they really are just like them they just talk differently sometimes.

With teenagers, you are treading on very thin ice (especially with boys) as they are trying to prove their “machismo” to their male peers, and to the girls. To a teenage boy, knowing the SLP will be in the room when they give a presentation is akin to failure. But however, if the SLP slips into the room while the presentation is going on, and the teenager has no control over what the adults do, he/she saves face amongst his peers. Deep down they will probably cheer the fact that you walked in quietly, but of course they will not be able to show this to the class.

Doing it this way would require careful coordination with the various teachers involved, but I’m sure that they wouldn’t mind you coming in as a “silent cheerleader’, especially if it gets one or more of the teens who doesn’t usually talk much in class to get up and try it.

When I had to do my first presentation right after I started my speech therapy, I asked the professor if my student SLP could sit in class and observe. She said that she had no problem with that, and that I could be first (panic really set in here) to do my presentation.

What you might try is something similar to the younger children, in that find something that the teens like to talk about and have some basic knowledge about it. Many English classes often have students talk about various things in class, so that would be where I would shoot for first. Let the teens practice their “speech” with you until they feel comfortable, and then bring in someone else who the student knows, such as a teacher. Once they feel confident in themselves and their subject, their fears about talking in front of classmates won’t be quite so strong.

Make quiet arrangements with the respective teachers to slip in the classroom right after the teen gets up to talk. You might not get cheers from the student, but I would bet that you get a slight smile, and eyes that light up. Then you will probably become the focus of the speech, in that the student will talk directly to you (known, friendly person), but they will get through it.

Afterwards in the next therapy session, when it is just the two of you, he will probably say that he really enjoyed having you there.

I know this is rather long and boring, but I hope it helps. Try some of my ideas if you think they are worthy, and let me know what happens. My home email address is: bochilde@nmsu.edu

Bobby


Last changed: September 12, 2005