Guiding rather than “fixing”
Hi! My name is Mollie and I am currently a second-year graduate student at the University of South Carolina. I have not yet had the chance to work with a PWS, but I think there can be a lot to learn before going into a stuttering session. I think many times PWS can feel like everyone else thinks they are better than them, and this could even be with a speech therapist. My question is what are ways as an SLP that I can make a PWS more comfortable and not make them feel like I am there to “fix” them but rather guide them?
Hi Mollie, I agree with you that we are there as guides and allies rather than fixers. I believe a good starting place is generally helping people who stutter understand that stuttering is not their fault, that it’s not due to some personal flaw or laziness or “not trying hard enough.” Stuttering simply is (as with any other chronic condition). When we can guide people to release themselves from this guilt (i.e., that they are doing something wrong by stuttering or are inherently “bad” for it), it opens the door to tackle the impacts of stuttering in their lives. We can then guide them to ways of minimizing the negative impacts they are experiencing on a day-to-day basis, both small and big impacts.