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From: Lynne Shields
Date: 10/16/01
Time: 10:04:27 AM
Remote Name: 199.217.208.162
Bob,
Thanks for a very good article on this topic. In your reply to Bill & Kevin, you said, "if the mentors are no longer at the universities, then there is no one to instill the passion in students". I couldn't agree more. I find that at least one or two students who take the graduate fluency course that I teach decide that they want to learn more about fluency disorders, and become really excited about this area of our field. Those are small numbers, but in surveying my former students after they are out working, the overall report is that they see themselves as more comfortable in working with children and adults who stutter as a result of having taken the course, and more prepared to do so.
In addition to helping students see the rewards of working with fluency clients, I also see the need for fluency specialists in academic programs to keep fluency courses as an integral part of the curriculum. I have been in the position of arguing to keep our undergraduate fluency course(although it was slashed from 3 to 2 credit hours a few years ago), and to retain fluency as one of the courses that can satisfy a graduate program requirement (here again, I was not successful in making the fluency class a requirement). Fluency as an integral part of our field is definitely heading downhill on a slippery slope, as far as I can see. Your pessimism, I'm sorry to say, seems warranted.