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From: Greg
Date: 10/10/02
Time: 5:07:40 PM
Remote Name: 68.105.255.171
Hi Steve,
I really appreciate your comments. When Judy asked me about writing for her, she specifically asked that it be “fair” and “balanced,” so hopefully I achieved that with some extent of success. When I was actually writing various drafts, I realized that how people perceive prosthetic stuttering management may be more associated with their personal values rather than the actual data. Hopefully, this message was conveyed to the readers.
As far as your question though, I don’t think those associated with ECU stuttering research / treatment really think about stuttering management in terms of “exogenous” or “endogenous” management. (This was just an arbitrary polarization I created for the manuscript’s sake.) Clearly, neither are cures and both have their positive and negative aspects. If I was forced to sum-up the ECU stuttering-research sub-culture, I would do so with two statements. First, they want to offer people who stutter more treatment options. (Hence, ECU offers endogenous, exogenous, and a combination of both exog. and endog. stuttering managements; its left up to the clients as to which of the three paths are taken.) Second, they try and take the “whatever works for this particular client” approach to stuttering management—as rubber stamp therapy doesn’t seem to optimally benefit anyone. As I’m sure you know, some clients get more out of ASF than others, just as some clients get more out of behavioral managements than others—so they offer all possible resources, listen to the clients needs and values, and try to meet these goals accordingly. Since I’m more of a researcher and a teacher than a therapist, I don’t get to see much of the clinic…but I do know that they’re seeing stuttering clients, some of which include prosthetic management into their treatment, while others do not.
As for me, I’m a stuttering doc-candidate, and I don’t use prosthetic stuttering management. I’ve already dealt with all those issues and learned to control my stuttering to my own satisfaction. As a matter of fact, I think my stuttering makes me a better teacher and offers me a world-view that most others (i.e., fluents) don’t have. Subsequently, I’m not ready to give up my stuttering behaviors just quite yet. However, if I had a child who stuttered, I would probably consider prosthetic management as a part of a holistic treatment plan.
Great to hear from you Steve; It’ll be great to catch-up at an NSA conference sometime. I truly hope you’re doing well,
Greg