Question From a Future SLP
Hello! My name is Rylie Huddleston and I am currently in graduate school to become a speech-language pathologist. I am currently at my public school placement and am getting my first experiences working with students who stutter. If you attended speech therapy, what was the best/most helpful advice you received from your therapist. Also, what is something that has helped you to gain confidence over the years? I look forward to your reply!
Hi Rylie and thank you for your important question.
Let me start with telling you what didn’t help. Letting me say the days of the week as many times as I have air. I play the saxophone. I can breath. Don’t focus on fluency. Firstly that may not even be my goal, secondly it may not be obtainable, and thirdly, aiming for fluency might only lead to feeling a failure. Instead focus on talking. Wanting to talk. Communcation. I’m also using a wheelchair because I have an illness. When I was hoping to get my health back I was frustrated and made things even worse. Now my goal is to make shops understand they need a ramp for me to be able to get inside, so that I can do the same things as anyone else. Getting rid of the shame as I’m not a senior and I sometimes feel old with my walker or wheelchair.
The best advice I’ve had was from PWS. They showed me stuttering didn’t have to limit me, and instead to go for my goals in life, that I’m so much more than my stutter. Later on I’ve met many fantastic SLPs who not focus on fluency, but who focus on me saying what I want to say, how, when and where I want to say it. I may not need help with my speech, but with relaxation of my speech organs and muscles. Or help with understanding stuttering. Or help expending my comfort zones. Or help with my family who need to understand stuttering.
What has helped me was to find something that made me feel me. The person I am, the skills I have. And the therapy I needed was public speaking, facing my fears and mindfulness. So think out of the box and start finding out who your client is and what s/he wants. And start with the parents alone, as they might have other goals for the child than the child itself. Listening is your best tool. 🙂
Happy ISAD and keep them talking
Anita