SLP experiences & advice
As an SLP graduate student, I’d love to hear about your experiences with SLPs. How did they view stuttering and how did that impact your view on stuttering? I’d love to hear more current experiences and experiences from years ago to see how the perspective on stuttering has changed or stayed the same. Going forward, what do you wish SLPs knew about stuttering or about PWS?
Thank you for your question, hcb0325. When I was young SLPs didn’t really know how to treat stuttering. I was told to say the days of the week in one breath. (I played the saxophone, so air wasn’t the issue.) I’ve had SLPs telling me to breath properly. (Again breathing.) I’ve had an SLP who became my psychologist, but when I told her my story, she threw it back in my face. All of this made me feel less, incapable, a failure. Today most SLPs understand that fluency is not the one and only goal, but for a client to say what s/he wants to say, the way s/he feels comfortable with. Whether that’s with some help to get out of a block, to gain more self-esteem, to expend comfort zones or even to help explain stuttering to others or to find the answers to raise awareness. A good SLP works together with the client, listens, asks questions, and together find a way to set up baby step goals, while stepping out of the box and see what this very client wants and needs. S/he is maybe asking for something that’s not in your textbook, and you may have a suggestion that your client never heard of. So work together. As you have the tools, but we have the experience. đ
Happy ISAD and keep them talking
Anita
I started stuttering while in speech therapy for my Rs and a reverse swallow – I was about 6 when it started.
My understanding is I continued with the same speech therapist at first but my mom realized quickly that the SLP wasnât doing things to help me speak more, as my talkative nature suddenly nosedived the longer I attended speech therapy. This was in 1997.
She pulled me out and found a different speech therapist who knew more about stuttering and whose methods she agreed with.
I donât remember a ton, but I found old paperwork that says they recommended we find community groups , with a list of them, and various resources. I remember being told not to avoid certain sounds because eventually Iâd stutter on new sounds. That seemed to really shape some things for me because I never used a different name or ordered things I didnât want. (I mostly tried not to speak, later on, but at least I got what I wanted?)
I remember trying delayed audio feedback and HATING IT. My grandma tried to push it but the speech therapists eventually told her they couldnât force me to continue. So I applaud that.
They educated my mom pretty well, but my grandma was a real piece of work about it.
I know I was told it was okay to stutter, but I donât remember ever feeling that way. After all, I was still in speech therapy and trying to practice away the stutter, right? Still trying fluency techniques – even when I informed them I didnât like using them because I didnât want to sound âweirdâ. I donât think the one I was seeing at that time knew what to do with that. She asked me to practice a few more times and then weâd stop.
I know I would feel frustrated when I was told that my stutter was improving. I hated it. It made me feel like Iâd be a disappointment when it came back, as it surely would.
This was all with insurance because I went to a private K-8, and the stuff with the public school wanted me to only attend once every 2 months.
Eventually in HS, I had a school SLP for the first time. She was absolutely terrible. Knew nothing about stuttering. Didnât care to learn. Wrote fluency goals (achieve 95% fluency on 5 minute conversation.) told me I was improving (aka stuttering less) which always annoyed me bc stuttering is so variable.
After HS, I stopped speech therapy. I went back years later to someone with my insurance who knew stuttering well. She taught me that the âfluency techniquesâ arenât to be used every stutter – theyâre for when Iâm feeling stuck in the moment and want out. I felt like my mind exploded – no one ever told me that. I think itâs hard to grasp how difficult it is to access that part of your brain mid-stutter. It never occurred to me that I was capable of having thoughts while I stuttered other than âget out get out get out get OUTâ
I think checking in with me fairly often and making sure I understood why we were doing activities we did in speech therapy wouldâve helped. I had some good and some bad. Iâm very anti being praised for fluency, because stuttering WILL come back.
Iâm thankful for the SLP who educated my mom. My mom made sure each teacher I had in K-8 knew they were to call on me when my hand was up, and to give me time to say the words I was saying. They empowered my mom and made sure she knew it wasnât her fault or my fault. I knew I could talk however much I wanted to at home, and my mom never told me to slow down or to use techniques. I feel very very thankful for that.
With all due respect to my SLPs, I do wish they had told me that it was okay to stutter. Being that I grew up in the 90s, I’m willing to chalk that up more to the sign of the times rather than anything detrimental about my SLPs. Still, I do wish I heard that and I do wish there were more opportunities to express that while stuttering may not be positive per se, it wasn’t something negative.
Whether you want to call it a disability, an impediment, that’s up to the individual, but I saw my stutter as a curse, as a burden. I may not have used those specific terms but that’s how I felt.
I was always told that stuttering is a problem and needed to be fixed. This caused a great deal of frustration from me, not to mention a plethora of soul-searching, trying to find an identity beyond “that kid who stutters”.
Additionally, the only stutterers I knew were celebrities — and very few of them. The only one I knew of who was still alive was James Earl Jones. But while his resume speaks for itself, the odds of even speaking with him were slim to none. So, it was isolating not knowing anyone else who stuttered until my 30s.
That’s not at all a reflection on my SLPs but not being told that it was okay to stutter or being given any stuttering-related encouragement didn’t help matters.