Question for PWS
Hi! My name is Kaitlyn and I am a second year Speech Pathology grad student. I am currently working in the public school and have a few PWS on my caseload who are older elementary/junior high. As a PWS, what is something you wanted/needed to hear from your clinician? Whether it regarded confidence, fluency, advocacy, etc. Thanks so much for your insight!
Hi Kaitlyn and thank you for your question.
Firstly, I would have liked to be aware of the existence of the communities of people who stutter. The amount of friends I have met and the level of support and understanding I have had is incalculable. Being a member of a community gives a new meaning to stuttering, which becomes almost a privilege…. If I didn’t stutter I couldn’t have met so many great people.
Secondly, I would have liked to have practised disclosure with my speech therapist. It is a skill that I practised myself, especially as an adult, and it would have helped me a lot in many situations in my life.
Hi Kaitlyn
What I would have wanted to hear from my clinician is that stuttering is not wrong, not shameful, that I can speak and have the right to do so, and that I’m good enough. Also to see who I am, and what I’m good at, simply finding the person behind the stutter. And for him/her to tell the people around me as well. My parents and family, teachers and classmates, etc, so that I was confident to face the world when I became an adult and had to face job situations, co-workers, social interactions etc. If there is a stabile basis, anything can be build upon that. Speech therapy, challenges, expending comfort zones, relationships, goals and dreams, etc. Do have a look at https://isad.live/declaration-of-the-right-to-stutter/
Keep them talking
Anita