Advice to New Professionals
Hi! My name is Emily, and I am a second-year speech language pathologist graduate student. My current interest right now is the school setting. I am currently in a school internship, where I have the opportunity to work with two students who stutter. This is very new to me, and I have a lot to learn before entering the school setting and working with PWS. What advice would you give someone who is just starting out in this helping profession? Specifically, when it comes to supporting people who stutter.
Hi Emily!
The best piece of advice I can offer is to really listen to what they have to say rather than how they are saying it. So often we get misheard because people are focused on how we are talking, so to create a safe place where they know they are being listened to and what they are saying is valued is so important in the stuttering journey. It is definitely a struggle having a stutter but having even one person who you know is listening and wants to hear what you have to say is so beneficial, especially in those years of being in school.
Matt
Hi, Emily, and thank you for this important question!
I would emphasize these points regarding future stuttering any clients who stutter:
– Become familiar with many different therapeutic approaches – fluency shaping techniques, stuttering modification techniques, and psychological approaches (building self-confidence, reducing avoidances, etc.).
– Design a therapy protocol for each client individually that would best meet their needs; resist the urge to use a “one-size-fits-all” therapy program.
– Listen to the clients, learn from them, and respect their needs and wishes in designing this protocol – which should be based on an evaluation PLUS what the client has to say about their own perceived needs.
– Expect that there WILL be relapses now and then. Stuttering differs from many other speech/language disorders in that one cannot expect clients to show relatively steady progress upwards, even with excellent therapeutic skills and knowledge. Relapses are an entirely normal part of the process in stuttering therapy.
– Most importantly, the client CANNOT be blamed in any way for relapses. Too often, frustrated SLP’s tell their relapsed clients that what happened was the clients’ own fault, that they didn’t work hard enough, that they didn’t follow instructions properly, etc., etc. These types of comments from SLP’s are all too common, and it is the main reason why many people who stutter develop negative attitudes about SLP’s.
– Instead, the competent and caring SLP needs to have a deep understanding about relapses, and needs to know how to gently guide a PWS back on a track towards good progress.
– It is also important for an SLP to get to know people who stutter on a personal level. I would advise SLP’s and SLP students to attend national and international conferences of people who stutter, talk to people attending, and learn about their life experiences.
– I would also recommend joining online stuttering forums, to learn about what people who stutter are thinking, what they are feeling, and what their therapeutic experiences have been like.
Best of luck to you in your chosen career!
Hi Emily. I’m happy you use this forum to get some thoughts from different PWS from different parts of the world. 🙂
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. 😉
There are some things I wish SLPs would do.
1. Listen and ask questions. Don’t just listen to the stuttered syllables, but listen to the story. The background. The goals. The culture, religion, anything that makes the person the way s/he is. As stuttering is so much more than what comes out of the mouth. Also listen to the parents and maybe even a friend, a partner. If a PWS doesn’t feel heard or safe, s/he will not give you the information you need.
2. Think out of the book, or box. One size does NOT fit all. One client (or the parent) might want to be fluent. Tell them fluency might not be for all. That climbing the Mount Everest is too hard for most people. So to set up reachable goals. Maybe tools to get out of a block. Maybe working on acceptance and self-worth. Maybe by giving them the knowledge to learn more about stuttering and explain to others. Maybe by suggesting something else but speech therapy. F ex presentation techniques, yoga, a choir. Or all of the above!
By listening, asking questions and providing a smörgåsbord of things to try, TOGETHER you might find something that fits that very client to reach acchievable goals.
As we’re all different, want and need different approaches. Some might want total fluency. If so, make sure they understand that this might not be an obtainable goal, but that there are many steps in between. Some might want help to accept and live with stuttering. Some might simply want some techniques to get out of a block. Some might want to know more about stuttering. Some might want help to get family members to understand. And therapy can be a full smörgåsbord with different things to try, of which some are maybe completely different than speech therapy. F ex yoga, singing, art. Also bring your clients to support groups, stutter camps and online places where PWS meet. This has been life changing for me.
I also gave some advice in my paper in this conference, so feel free to have a read. 🙂
Keep them talking
Anita