Listening and Providing Treatment: How Do You Do Both?
Hi there, my name is Samantha. I am a speech-language pathology student pursuing my master’s.
In reading the posted articles, they surround listening to a person who stutters and that the way they say something is not as important as how they say it – which I agree! But as clinicians, how do we make sure we validate how they are feeling and truly listen to them while still addressing treatment targets to improve fluency?
I am currently in my fluency disorders class, so I am sure this question will be answered in the coming weeks, but I would appreciate any additional input you can add!
Hi Samantha! Thank you for your question. I grappled with this question myself as a graduate student- it wasn’t until I dove deeper into the stuttering community and truly listened to people who stutter’s stories, that I realized that validating how someone is feeling while also addressing fluency cannot truly happen. I have learned that it is quite hypocritical to say you are accepting stuttering, yet also working on suppressing it.
I highly encourage you to read Disfluency-Affirming Therapy for Young People Who Stutter: Unpacking Ableism in the Therapy Room by Vivian Sisskin. In the article she talks about how even while trying to practice with an acceptance mindset, we send the message “it’s okay to stutter, but we all know it is certainly better if you don’t.” If we are trying to validate our client and make room for stuttering in our therapy room and our therapeutic relationship, while simultaneously praising fluency and promising a “cure” that does not exist for stuttering- we are certainly practicing something we are NOT preaching.
Hi Samantha,
I fully agree with Nicole here. You might want to read the article I wrote here. It is not the fluency a person wants. There are always deeper wishes behind wanting to be fluent. I ask people what would change if they would wake up tomorrow and they do not stutter anymore. And that is what the real wishes are. But most people are convinced they can only reach these goals when they become fluent speakers. I spoke to a young woman who stutters last weekend and she said: “As long as I can say what I want it’s fine. I know it might come out as a stutter, but hey, that’s what I do, because I am a peron who stutters. That’s my way of talking.”
-Manon-
Hi Samantha,
Thanks so much for your question. I completely agree that it’s really important to truly listen and validate your clients whilst also acknowledging that there will always be fluctuating amounts of ‘fluency’ and this is natural. (I don’t often talk about fluency, I prefer just to refer to stuttering as stuttering)! I also absolutely agree that it is important to listen to what is being said, but I can also enjoy listening to how it is said too. I think there is something aesthetically beautiful about listening to stuttering, which I don’t like to deny. I tend to steer clear of working to ‘improve fluency’ because I don’t think it’s helpful and can indeed be damaging to some people who stutter. In working to ‘improve fluency’, we may imply that there is something inherently wrong, bad or not desired about stuttering. That’s not to say that we can’t work on speech change, if this is what our client is hoping for – reducing tension, struggle (both physical and emotional), though not the underlying stuttering itself. I hope you enjoy the remainder of your classes on stuttering. It’s great to see students showing such curiosity and willingness to find out more.