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From: Ken St. Louis
Date: 10/18/00
Time: 8:47:14 AM
Remote Name: 157.182.12.51
Dear Jamie,
This youngster sounds like she might be stuttering, but there also might be some serious respiratory problem going on. If I were in your situation, I would refer her to a good medical center that has all the usual specialties for a complete diagnostic workup before I did anything with her. As in voice therapy, I would want to have medical clearance to proceed with therapy.
If it turned out that the young girl was stuttering only, then I believe I would start with some relaxation exercises, breathing (perhaps lying supine and then progressing to the sitting position), easy vocalizations on exhalation, and finally to easy words. Then I would choose an approach to stuttering therapy that would hopefully address the symptoms that hopefully would emerge once the breathing and speaking on exhalation were somewhat normalized in highly selected speaking tasks.
It could be a long haul. Good luck.
Ken