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From: Bob Quesal
Date: 10/2/01
Time: 8:14:05 AM
Remote Name: 143.43.201.169
Hi Andy:
Good points! I guess the argument about the specialist would be to counter with something like "why should a physician know about neurology when there are neurologists who specialize in it?" A specialist is supposed to have *specialized* knowledge about something. He or she should not be the only one to know anything about it - the specialist knows more than the generalist. We both know that there are so many subtle aspects of stuttering that a child could be a stutterer and could be missed by an SLP who knew little or nothing about the disorder. Also, your point about the lack of specialists is right on.
As far as what we can do - that's an extremely tough question. What I have observed recently (and I find very troubling) is that people seem to wear their lack of knowledge about stuttering as a badge of honor. We've interviewed a number of people for faculty positions in the past couple of years and we ask them areas that they feel they could not teach in. Nearly all say "fluency disorders" and then everyone laughs. Ha-ha-ha. (In the meantime, nearly everyone feels comfortable teaching dysphagia.) I see that as a sign of an attitude that is accepted by our profession. Changing attitudes is very difficult.
Long-term solutions. Hmmm....well, I think that Special Interest Division 4 (Fluency and Fluency Disorders) needs to be in people's face a bit more. ;-)> If SID 4 doesn't take the lead, I don't know who will. The association has to do more to show respect for the "traditional parameters of communication." I also think, as a last resort, that we need to investigate the possibility of moving away from ASHA, the way the audiologists did. Once the audiologists showed that they were serious about not needing ASHA, the attitude changed considerably. I admit that there are more audiologists than fluency specialists, but if ASHA cannot or will not address the needs for training of professionals to work with people who stutter, someone else will have to do it.
I'm no radical (although I play one on the ISAD conference) ;-)> but in retrospect, I wish I had gotten a lot more angry in 1993 than I did. I honestly believe that if nothing is done, fluency disorders will be little more than a footnote in a decade or so.
Just a little something to brighten your day.
Bob Q.