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From: Lynne Shields
Date: 10/12/00
Time: 11:36:38 AM
Remote Name: 199.217.208.162
Thanks for this wonderful paper, Judy. Ellen-Marie points out other ways that children can express their feelings about their stuttering, including writing and music. I'd like to give a nice example of how one of our clients expressed his feelings through mixed media. I was reminded of it when looking through the Art Gallery that is linked to your paper, where there are several examples of mixed media. About a year ago, one of my clients, then 8 years old, was drawing a picture of a person who had teased him about his stuttering. The guy had a really big mouth--really big. I asked him how he would like to respond to that teaser. He picked up a piece of modeling clay, that we'd been using earlier in the session to make 'stutters' and squash them (a lovely idea from Bill Murphy), and he smashed it over the teaser's mouth. He continued to take ever increasing chunks of modeling clay, pressing and pounding them quite flat on top of the previous piece, until the face of the teaser was nearly covered with clay. I said to him, "It looks to me like this guy won't be able to tease you anymore". The client broke into a big smile and simply replied, "Nope". This was, I think, the start of this child's path toward taking control of his situation, as Ellen-Marie says so clearly. A picture is, indeed, worth one thousand words. And, in this particular case, especially when you add modeling clay and a bit of therapeutic pounding.