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From: Ken St. Louis
Date: 10/6/01
Time: 9:40:06 AM
Remote Name: 157.182.12.51
Hi Gunars,
A smiley face back to you. ;-). Thanks for the kind words.
You asked about my recommendations about when and how often to "take stock" of one's stuttering. I honestly don't have a well justified answer for that, since I don't yet have any data on the differential effectiveness of therapy or maintenance based on different times and frequencies of this kind of activity. You have definitely given me an idea for a clinical research study though. ;-)
In my book, "Living With Stuttering: Stories, Basics, Resources, and Hope," I do have an appendix related to "Taking Stock." I developed a short questionnaire, "Life Perspectives and Stuttering" as a self study exercise for those who stutter. It asks such questions as "How important a problem is stuttering in your life at this time?" and "How satisfied are you with your life at this time?" There are two forms, one for the present time and one for any time in the past. The book summarizes data on 120 adult stutterers who filled out the "SL*ILP."
I recommend that a stutterer fill one out for the present time and a slightly different retrospective version for the time when he or she was about 10 years old and another retrospective version for the time he or she was in high school.
Ideally, if therapy is in the picture, I would recommend that the above activity be done before therapy started. Then, the current version could be done after the primary therapy is finished and then perhaps once a year thereafter for five years to see if there are any changes. After that, it might be interesting to take it every five years or so to determine how important stuttering remains as a life issue as a function of other things that might be going on, such as emerging health problems.
Practically, though, I think one should "Take Stock" anytime he or she feels a need to. I see no reason to have any set rules for people like yourself who might want to check in with yourself from time to time.
I hope this answers your question.
Ken