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From: Gunars K. Neiders
Date: 10/5/00
Time: 5:30:41 PM
Remote Name: 12.13.226.12
Bill,
Congratulations on a well written and imaginative paper. I love the techniques of "Let's Make a Movie" and "Let's Go To Class". My own speech therapy did not really progress until the eminent psychologist Albert Ellis helped me do "de-awfulize", "de-catastrophize", and practice unconditional self acceptance. His methods, however, use the analytical tools of disputation with respect to a) empirical evidence, b) logic, and c) pragmaticism, as well as humor. This type of "scientific method" is sometimes even to abstract for adults, let alone children. Therefore, I am happy to learn these two techniques of yours.
Right now in the workplaces in United States there is big drive toward acceptance of diversity: racial, cultural, sexual, religious, etc. My goal is to teach people that occasional minor disfluency is nothing but another aspect of diversity: just like having vision different from 20/20; having yellow, brown, curly, straight or even blue :-) hair; having a high or low voice tone; being easily startled by loud noises; being of a slight or stocky build; etc. Why am I mentioning it here? I want to ask you if you thought that with young children it is possible to also use "Let Us Play Being Different" in order to advocate unconditional other and self acceptance?
Also, do you agree with me that it is not the disfluency that tends to make people's lives harder, but a) the struggling and the forcing, b) the impounding of the air, c) the circumlocutions, and d) the disfunctional attitudes of anxiety, shame and guilt. And that peeling away these disfunctional aspects of stuttered speech, after the child has been desensitized shows more promise than mechanical teaching of speech techniques?
Gunars
p.s. Thanks again for the wonderful paper.