Monday’s Modalities
I recently began avoidance reduction speech therapy and a few weeks ago, my SLP suggested that I write a letter to my stuttering. As a person who has been a covert stutterer for many years, he wanted me to start to form a relationship with my stuttering (hopefully not an adversarial one!) and felt that this would be a good first step.
As a psychologist, I could understand the merit of this exercise, but I have to be honest: I felt a little silly writing a letter to my stuttering.
Still, I ended up giving it a try.
My letter began: As you know, for many years I have tried to erase you from my life….
In a strange way, it felt like a letter to an estranged family member or friend. One you want to rebuild a relationship with. In my case: a better relationship with.
Have you ever written a letter to your stuttering, in speech therapy or on your own?
Even if you don’t want to write a letter to your stuttering, what kind of letter do you think you would write? Ransom note? Love sonnet? Hate mail?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Gina
Monday, October 17, 2016
Hi Gina,
I am a second year graduate student who is currently working with 8 middle school students who stutter. Some of them are very comfortable talking about their stuttering while others have a harder time verbalizing their thoughts towards their stutter. I never pressure students into talking about their stutter, but let them know they are free to talk about it with me as much or as little as they’d like. Many of these students are also in a Behavioral Intervention program at school as some come from abusive homes or have other concomitant disorders. I never considered giving the students an option of writing a letter to their stuttering, but after reading about your experience, I wonder if this would be a good option to help them express their feelings. Thanks for sharing!
Best,
Emma
Gina,
Wow, I had never thought to write a letter to my stutter. How amazing a journey that would be. I wonder if I had written one a few years ago and one today how different they would be.
thank you
Elizabeth Kapstein