Advice for SLPs
I am a graduate student in the Speech-Language Pathology program at Idaho State University and I am currently taking a fluency course and working with children who stutter at my placement. I am curious to receive input on what PWS find most beneficial in therapy. We’re there certain techniques that helped or did the counseling aspect in therapy hold a bigger impact? Thank you!
Hi, Julia. That’s a very interesting question!
I have several different answers to that, as I’ve experienced many different types of therapy. Over a period of more than 30 years, during which I saw more than 30 different clinicians, I had much fluency shaping therapy, as well as some therapy that was primarily counselling.
The best help that I received was in fluency shaping programs, where I learned techniques such as comfortably full relaxing diaphragmatic breathing, gentle onsets, loudness contouring within syllables, and slightly stretched and stabilized sounds. Through very intensive practicing of these techniques, I enjoyed long periods of fluency – sometimes lasting for weeks or months.
But I found, that for me, I needed really intensive and daily practicing to maintain this fluency – and this was just too much for me on a long-term basis. Eventually I gave up practicing and using techniques, and simply and calmly accepted myself as a person who happens to stutter.
But I also received some valuable advice from a clinician (who also stuttered himself), who mainly talked with me and counselled me. With some reluctance on my part, he got me to admit that I had no close friends to speak of. (I was then about 20 years old, and my stuttering was very severe.) He advised me to meet as many people as I could, and to converse with as many as I could, regardless of how severe my stuttering happened to be. I followed his advice, and met many fellow students at the college campus I was then attending. I quickly made the discovery that people didn’t care that I had a stuttering disorder, and they were very interested in what I had to say. Soon I had many friends and a busy social life. It was really great advice! This didn’t help my stuttering at all (I still stuttered very severely), but I learned to really enjoy life!
Hi Julia
It is a mix of things. I have been to therapy where the only focus was on my breathing. I played the saxophone, so my breathing wasn’t the problem. And when she couldn’t come up with other exercises (this was many years ago), we talked and I told her everything around my stutter. She listened and we had tea. After a year I told her I wanted to stop, as we were not going anywhere. (So she blamed me for not wanting to be fluent… again, this was many years ago, but it still is a scar to me.) Fast forward. There now is a shift, where there is the multidiciplinary approach, where focus is on the whole person, physical status as well as family, culture, religion, upbringing, school, work, friends, etc, and all parts are being weighed in.
Acceptance was a tough, but a major change. As after that I could work on my speech (when I myself! felt I wanted to get less tension in my body), but without the fear of “failing”, as i at least had the foundation of acceptance. As acceptance doesn’t mean stop trying. I means to accept that stuttering isn’t who I am, just something I do. I also worked on facing my fears, Mindfulness, NLP, meditation, and public speaking, (incl body language, Speaking Circles etc). It’s never one thing. It’s both body and mind that need to sync. Do have a look at “the stuttering hexacon”.
Keep them talking
Anita