[ Contents ]
From: Steve Hood
Date: 10/6/01
Time: 1:51:15 PM
Remote Name: 134.29.30.167
Hello Gunnars.
Sorry not to have seen you in Boston last June for NSA. Maybe you can make it to NSA next year.
The term "blowback" is a totally new one for me. I've never heard of it. But I think I know what you are driving at. Here are two quick examples of things that might provide "short term fix" but not long term assistance.
1. Tricks, crutches, avoidances, postponements-- such as substituting easy words for hard one, or paraphrasing or talking around a topic. Relying on other to do the talking, refusing to talk and participate in class, etc. 2. Distractions that take his mind off stuttering such as talking in a sing-song pattern.
As Joe Sheehan (and others) used to say, be ware of "false fluency."
Therapy is more effective when geared more positively to doing more and more of the things needed to talk easily, and to communicate effectively, rather than doing more and more things to avoid or reduce stuttering.
At this age, we need to help kids realize that some stuttering is ok. Fluency is more than the absence of stuttering. It is the **severity** of the stuttering, and not just the frequency of the stuttering, that can be detrimental in the long run.
In anticipation of what you might post next, let me say that I do not believe the positive things that we can do to help these kids talk easily are in oppositional to the REBT,in which you believe so strongly. And when combined with work on the Feelings (emotions) and Attitudes (beliefs) about stuttering, these can be helpful in working with both the emotional and behavioral components of stuttering in this age group.
I wish that an interactive forum like this could lend itself to a verbal dialog rather than written series of posts, but such is not the nature of the format.
I hope these ideas are helpful.