Quick Question
Hi! I’m a post-bacc student studying Speech-Language Pathology with the University of Akron and I was wondering how therapy has impacted you. Was it very helpful for you? What are your biggest takeaways from it?
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Quick Question — 4 Comments
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My biggest take away from therapy is that it must be a two person endeavor. SLPs should ask what the client wants or needs from therapy and work together to create meaningful goals that are relevant to the person’s life.
Pam
Hi,
I advise you to read the answers to the most recent questions (which can be close to yours)
Yes, it was helpful when I met my last two SLPs, which focused on my particular needs and behaviour. They did not copy paste technique, they did their best to help me accept my stutter and relieve the pressure I had when I speak (relaxation, fluency techniques)
Best,
Mounah
Stuttering was such a taboo, therapy was never an option as a child. And today I’m happy where I am, so not seeking therapy. In my keynote speech for the ISA World Congress http://stutteringiscool.com/podcast/therapy-smorgasbord/ I spoke about just that. As PWS are such a huge variation of people, all with a different stutter, a different background, with different experiences AND with different wants and needs, there is no one therapy for all. One might want fluency, another might want confidence, the third might want public speaking skills, the fourth might simply want relaxation. A multi-disciplinary approach, with not just clinicians, but also using yoga, song, mindfulness and massage might do the trick. Just like going to the gym is not for all. Sometimes the tools aren’t right, sometimes the clinician/trainer, sometimes the time isn’t right. So by listening to the client and, together with the client, find a smorgasbord of activities to pick from, and maybe invite a friend to the therapy room to help your client with the challenges and exercises outside the therapy room might be the key. (Just as it’s more fun to do tough things together with a friend.) So, give the client a smorgasbord, explain the different “dishes” and let the client pick and choose and give it a try. It’s the combination of “flavors” that can make the perfect “dish”. Being in this “kitchen” together, client and clinician, makes a team and can maybe create new “dishes”, instead of a teacher-student situation where one simply does what he is told, leaving the room with a sigh of relief. And what is more rewarding than for a client to feel proud and wanting to keep on expending comfort zones and new speaking levels, and for the clinician to watch and cheer the client, you’ve been coaching, reaching new levels. The books need to be rewritten, from counting stuttered syllables, risking to silence the client, to counting life successes, as that’s what really matters.
Stay safe and keep them talking
Anita
Yes therapy did help me. When I was in my late teens I did not see a great future ahead of me as I was highly dysfluent with most people both on the phone and face to face. I was in fact having suicidal thoughts. Then in my early 20s I did an intensive stuttering treatment course that changed the way I think and speak and that gave me hope for the future which I capitalised on going our and getting a meaningful job as well as getting married and living a somewhat normal life. But it has not been easy. There is a high relapse rate from fluency shaping treatment and depending on the success one has from that initial treatment one will either give up or one will continue to work hard throughout their life to maintain an acceptable level of fluency. All are different in their life goals and what works for them and what does not. Aiming to get total fluency if you are a chronic stutterer is very very hard and very time consuming. I believe that the best most can aim for is to change the way they think about themself as a person who stutters and try to live with it. Try not to avoid speaking situations in life and don’t try to hide your stuttering. this sort of treatment philosophy comes more under the heading of psychology rather than speech pathology but that does not preclude an SLP from treating a person who stutters as long as the SLP has a good understanding of stuttering and how to treat it successfully. Quite often that involves specialist skills So referring a potential client to a specialist might be the better way to go.