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From: Bobby Childers
Date: 10/17/01
Time: 1:59:04 AM
Remote Name: 216.234.193.75
Patti:
I’m sorry that you found my experiences with speech therapy to be discouraging. On the contrary, while I may not have been pleased with some of the methods or results, I never really felt discouraged. My speech therapy began in the fall of 1966 (3rd grade) and lasted until spring of 1969 (6th grade). I then went to the speech clinic in summer 1973 where I had the marble treatment. My next experience wasn’t until 1992 (psychologist), and then again last spring (2000).
In my hometown (home of one of the 8 Wonders of the World…large cave), the general attitude was one of “I can do it myself”, and disabilities basically did not exist or were not discussed. The rest of the world may have been in the 1960’s, but my hometown was not (and yes I watched President Kennedy get shot…I was in the first grade). The town was rather small then, less than 12,000 people, and speech therapy was considered something of a luxury. The school system had one therapist for approximately 10 elementary schools, 1 junior high, and 1 high school.
Over the years, many aspects of our daily lives have drastically changed. Speech therapy is one of the fortunate things that have changed, for the better. Back in my hometown, stuttering was considered to be a liability, and probably caused by the people who did it. My therapist, who I thought was ancient, was probably in her middle to late forties (older than my parents), so she probably was trained 20 years prior to that. So you can imagine the type of speech therapy taught in the 1940’s as compared today.
Times have changed, and so has the venue of speech therapy. Now it is understood by most SLP’s that you have to treat the entire person (attitudes and all) along with the speech. My student SLP’s understood this concept, and practiced it religiously. They taught me how to begin to accept my stuttering and to quit despising it, all the while they were teaching me the various techniques.
I do not regret the therapy I had years ago, it did teach me to be more self-reliant, and to stand up for my rights as a person. Don’t ever be discouraged by the past, it is history and cannot be changed. But you can learn from the mistakes that were made then, and you can change the future just by doing what you are currently doing, learning and seeing the world in a whole new light.---Bobby