Avoiding Frustration
Hi! My name is Megan and I am an undergraduate student studying Speech-Language Pathology. I was wondering, what do you do when you are working with a person who stutters and they do not seem to be making any progress? How do you avoid frustration and get over this hurdle? Thanks!
Hi Megan!
Thank you for your question! Your question is very important while in the same time it is a bit hard to respond properly, especially because people are having so diverse goals. Furthermore, what is regarded as progress or successful outcome are so individual. However, if I understand your point correctly, you are talking about the frustration which we as SLTs may experience if the collaboration does not lead to a positive process for the person. I think there might be so many different reasons why a person may not experience any progress; it could be lack of intensitivity of the therapy, limited local provision of SLT services, lack of trust, negative experiences with therapyc, therapy not relevant to the person, or not adapted to the person’s context. It could also be that the persons themselves are not willing to do any home-based training themselves, and so on. I think I would talk directly with the person regarding these issues. Since we do have several SLTs located in Oslo, the area where I live, I would also make the person aware of the possibility that he or she could change the situations by including another SLT into the collaborative process. I hope these lines give a meaning for you.