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From: Bobby Childers
Date: 10/19/01
Time: 10:10:34 PM
Remote Name: 216.234.194.35
Melissa:
I guess that I always knew deep down that there had to be places in the world where I could get real help for my speech, I just had to find the right place at the right time.
When I moved from my hometown to Las Cruces to finish my bachelors degree, I knew that I would have to talk and deal with a large number of people that I didn't know. Going into Management Information Systems as a field was also going to require talking to vendors, co-workers, administrative boards, etc., so I had to do something about my speech, and my attitudes towards my speech.
I don't feel as self-conscious now about stuttering, even though I still hate job interviews. This is because of my student clinicians at NMSU. They helped show me how to start accepting my speech which in turn began to reduce the amount of stuttering that I did.
I will always be grateful to my student clinicians and to Dr. Leeper for what they helped me to accomplish.
As you work with stuttering clients, be they children or adult, you will teach them the various techniques that you have learned in school. But let them teach you about stuttering and the feelings associated with it. That is something that you can not learn in a class or from a book. Both you and your client will benefit from this type of learning as it is mutual and lasts a very long time.
Good luck with your studies, I know how hard it is.
Bobby