[ Contents | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: Ellen-Marie Silverman
Date: 10/17/01
Time: 11:17:54 AM
Remote Name: 172.150.188.241
Mr. Lundberg, thank you for sharing your interest and your work as well as the anecdotal account of Dr. Van Riper's attitude toward working with females who have stuttering problems.
I wouldn't be surprised if his attitude was shared by many of the pioneers in stuttering research and treatment in the United States of America. Even in the late '60's, my dissertation advisor at the University of Iowa confided that such bias still existed. After a telephone conversation he had had while I was in his office that clearly left him exasperated, he turned to me and said: " . . . I told him if you are going to train them (i.e., women), then you are going to have to hire them!"
I was surprised at his willingness to suggest to me a female that there was a wide-spread bias against hiring female Ph.D.'s. And I was even more amazed at his apparent lack of concern about how I might feel about hearing that! On another occasion, he remarked that certain women should go on for their Ph.D.'s because they never would get married! This prefaced his advice to me (when I was a Masters student) that I could go on for my doctorate if I wanted to but that he thought I would probably get married (and not need it!).
My dissertation advisor's implication that there was a strong bias men had against working with women as colleagues was also sharred by my ex-husband, also a speech pathologist and someone with a stuttering problem. He counseled me several times while I was a doctoral candidate not to become " . . . a castrating female Ph.D!"
So, I think it is very likely that the early pioneers, at least in the United States of America, were uncomfortable working with women, whether as clients or colleagues. And I think, based on my experience as a student, therapist working with people who stutter in individual and group treatment, and university professor/researcher that there has been a "private club" mentality that has characterized stuttering research and therapy, not to mention leadership in the field. This may be a by-product of so many of the male pioneers having had stuttering problems themselves and not fully addressing, except possibly for Van Riper, the widespread effect it had on their personal constructs and world views.
Hopefully, others in the field of stuttering research and treatment are beginning to see that our own selves including our fears, likes and dislikes, and even, yes, our prejudices, have a way of influencing all that we say and do and see and comprehend about the world. So, as teachers and therapists and researchers, knowing that, we have a great responsibility to be clear in our self-knowledge, not just academic knowlege.
Unfortunately, so much early research into stuttering in the United States of America and even today focuses on the behavioral, more easily quantifiable, aspects of the problem. This has given the impression that stuttering is a bio-mechanical problem, not a communication problem. To know best how to help each person who comes to us with a hope of relief from a stuttering problem, we need to take into account their feelings and hopes. If we don't, all we can hope to accomplish is to offer superficial palliative care.
You know, as I re-read your final paragraph, I do believe we are in accord because I agree with what I think you are asserting: We must relate to the person before us whether in a one-to-one context or in a group setting and we do need to recognize the power of group dynamics. I was trained as a transactional analysis therapist, and we were trained to work in groups because the founder of transactional analysis, Eric Berne, believed that to achieve a lasting cure required successful participation in groups.
So, to summarize, I agree with you. I believe we need to consider individuals as individuals both in research and in clinical work. I am not at all convinced that means, standard deviations, t-tests, correlation coefficients, and the like provide the necessary information to help people change as I stated in my paper.
All best wishes to you and your students. And special good wishes as you revise your textbook!
Sincerely,
Ellen-Marie Silverman