Talk to a PWS
Hi! I am a graduate student in speech-language pathology taking a fluency course. Having not yet worked with a PWS, I am curious to learn more about what makes speech therapy most impactful for a PWS. Have any of you had any particularly good (or bad!) experiences with speech therapy in terms of things an SLP has said to you, activities or exercises you’ve done, etc.? I am curious to know what works, and what I should try and avoid.
Hi kannasnow
What didn’t help was just focusing on my breathing, week after week. Saying the days of the week in one breath. I can breath. I played the saxophone for many years. I also had one who let me talk about what was bothering me. And when, after a year, I wanted to stop, she said it was my fault and blamed me for being unwilling to be fluent, which left me with huge mental scars. If the goal is fluency only, it’s doomed to fail, as stuttering is so much more, and you only risk for your client to become silent instead. So start by listening.
Upbringing, culture, society, religion, personality, all of these things play a part. So to know where to start, you will need to find out who and what we bring to the table. It might seem like the hardest part, but once you’ll get to know your client and s/he offers you the trust to open up, you’ll find a true connection with your client and can work together (as you have the tools, but the client is the expert on his/her own stutter). So I’d like SLPs to start by listening and to think out of the box. Listening, because stuttering is so much more than what you see and hear. Stuttering is in our minds, hearts and the rest of our bodies as well.
In my keynote speech for the ISA World Congress http://stutteringiscool.com/podcast/therapy-smorgasbord/ I spoke about stuttering treatment being a smorgasbord. As PWS are such a huge variation of people, all with a different stutter, a different background, with different experiences AND with different wants and needs, there is no one therapy for all. One might want fluency, another might want confidence, the third might want public speaking skills, the fourth might simply want relaxation. A multi-disciplinary approach, with not just clinicians, but also using yoga, song, mindfulness and massage might do the trick. Just like going to the gym is not for all. Sometimes the tools aren’t right, sometimes the clinician/trainer, sometimes the time isn’t right. So by listening to the client and, together with the client, find a smorgasbord of activities to pick from, and maybe invite a friend to the therapy room to help your client with the challenges and exercises outside the therapy room might be the key. (Just as it’s more fun to do tough things together with a friend.) So, give the client a smorgasbord, explain the different “dishes” and let the client pick and choose and give it a try. It’s the combination of “flavors” that can make the perfect “dish”. 🙂 Being in this “kitchen” together, client and clinician, makes a team and can maybe create new “dishes”, instead of a teacher-student situation where one simply does what he is told, leaving the room with a sigh of relief. And what is more rewarding than for a client to feel proud and wanting to keep on expending comfort zones and new speaking levels, and for the clinician to watch and cheer the client, you’ve been coaching, reaching new levels. 🙂 The books need to be rewritten, from counting stuttered syllables, risking to silence the client, to counting life successes, as that’s what really matters.
So keep them talking
Anita