Talk to a PWS
Hello! Our names are Ashlynn, India, and Lauren. We are 2nd year students in the Communication Sciences and Disorders department at the University of South Carolina. We are in our fluency course this semester and learning so much about stuttering. As future clinicians who may work with individuals who stutter, we were just wondering what is one piece of advice that you’d want us to know about how to provide the best support for a person who stutters? We all want to be the most responsive, compassionate clinicians, so any advice is greatly appreciated!
Thank you for this really important question!
If I chose one piece of advice to give to future SLP’s, it would be this:
Expect that there WILL be relapses now and then. Stuttering differs from many other speech/language disorders in that one cannot expect clients to show relatively steady progress upwards, even with excellent therapeutic skills and knowledge. Relapses are an entirely normal part of the process in stuttering therapy.
Most importantly, the client CANNOT be blamed in any way for relapses. Too often, frustrated SLP’s tell their relapsed clients that what happened was the clients’ own fault, that they didn’t work hard enough, that they didn’t follow instructions properly, etc., etc. These types of comments from SLP’s are all too common, and it is the main reason why many people who stutter develop negative attitudes about SLP’s.
Instead, the competent and caring SLP needs to have a deep understanding about relapses, and needs to know how to gently guide a PWS back on a track towards good progress.
Best of luck to all of you in your future career!
Hi Ashlynn, India and Lauren.
Thank you for your question, which shows that you are on the right track. 🙂
It is difficult to answer you with one piece of advice. Personally, I would tell you to try to get different perspectives on stuttering, and not just the clinical one. Especially in recent years, we are seeing the emergence of a critical culture around stuttering (Joshua St. Pierre, Christopher Constantino), but also music (JJJJerome Ellis), poetry (Adam Giannelli), performance art (Oli Isaac and Nina G), and a whole more social dimension that goes beyond the clinical level.
I think having different points of view will be able to help you support people who stutter, who may have other needs besides the clinical one.
Hope this helps!
Andrea