Talk to PWS
Hello, what were some of the best coping techniques/ things you learned from speech therapy that made you feel more confident with your stutter. As we know a stutter is not treatable so what could we do as speech therapists to make a PWS feel more confident in their speech. Thank-you!
Hi perrinoffert and thank you for your question.
To be honest, the best coping techniques I’ve learned from other PWS, but I know that many SLPs are now applying it themselves.
Help us to challenge ourselves, but keep the challenges realistic and adjusted to the client. F ex voluntary stuttering can be a great tool for covert PWS, while we who can’t even hide it might feel why stutter even more. Skip the “fluency” and the “overcome”. Instead help us to face hurdles and deal with them, speech-wise, but also mentally. As “overcome” or “fluency” might be too high of a goal, and when too many falls, we might even stop trying and feel even worse about ourselves. Small goals, small challenges, and all individual.
And ask. We are all different, have different characters, needs, background and experiences. Listen to our stories and try to give us a smörgåsbord with different things to try. For me it was public speaking skills + mindfulness and NLP + mediyoga + desensitation, feel the fear and do it anyway. But for other PWS this might be something completely different.
Speech techniques are great tools, but when too much focusing on fluency, you might instead push too hard and the person becomes covert, afraid to show their stuttering. So try to find a balance, as feeling good about oneself and expending your comfort zones can improve speech, and even make it easier to implement speech techniques, as you’re no longer afraid to “fail”, but feel good about yourself no matter how you speak.
With small children, don’t hesitate to speak one-on-one with the child too, as it might say one thing to please its parents, but it maybe want something completely different. And bring friends into the therapy room. They can learn about stuttering, but also help the child to do assignments and laugh at each other’s attempts without feeling judgement. In short: be creative, listen and be open to the client’s needs. You have the speech technique tools, PWS have the expertise on their stutter. Together you got the key. 🙂
happy ISAD and keep them talking
Anita