Technique Question for PWS
Hello, I am a current graduate student, Speech-Language Pathology, and was wondering what the strangest therapy technique someone asked you to try was (and if it was successful or not)? Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.
Hi there – a clinician once asked me to try vocal massage, essentially my throat area to maybe loosen the vocal folds. It was weird to me, and not helpful at all.
Pam
Hello,
There are many stories of “original therapy”
I had to hear for 1 hour an audiotape to let go the demon of my voice. There is hypnosis as well that we often hear about.
The most important is that the therapy is adapted to the person and his/her needs. There is no such thing as a unique therapy as every PWS has different needs
I have had some success with number of different modalities of what would best be described as “energy healing” or “energy medicine” and I am certain that there was no element of placebo effect involved. In one treatment I came out and did not stutter for 3 weeks. Others have lasted me from 2 days to a week. Now that does not sound much but the experiences have been enough for me to believe that the future of stuttering treatment will not be speech therapy. These treatments all took no longer than 1 hour. The problem is making the effect last. More recently I have had some good success from Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) which has proven to be effective in releasing trapped emotions that hold things like stuttering in place and inhibit the success that speech pathologists might otherwise have with their clients. Don’t dismiss some of this weird stuff. All the best.
I have a very definite answer to this question.
When I was about 12 years old, my mother made an appointment for me with a doctor who claimed that he had a “cure” for stuttering.
His technique was to carry around a notebook at all times, and that any time one talked, a person needed to write down the first letter of each word at the same time it was being said.
He also wanted me to (temporarily, I think) cancel all activities which would involve speaking, where this method could not be used.
The idea sounded completely stupid and impractical to me at that time (and to my mother too, who didn’t think I should cancel upcoming important activities). So that first session with that doctor was also the last.
While in his office, his technique “worked”. It’s been my experience that techniques generally work inside clinical rooms and offices.
But I could not envision carrying around a notebook and writing down letters every time I talked!
What haven’t I tried… Waving my hand wave and only speak as long as my hands moves from one side to another, hypnosis, carrying a healing stone, singing, you name it. But the stupidest thing was this person telling me *o *ot *se **e *irst *etter *f *very *ord, *s **at’s *here *e *tutter *e *ost. As if that would make me feel less odd or better understood…
Stay safe and keep fighting useless methods
Anita
Hi there,
Thank you for the question. Personally I didn’t have had any speech therapy until I came from China to the States in my early 30s. Among the therapies I received in recent years in the States, the craziest one for me is the Subway Challenge. Me and my stutter peers got on the New York subway and told people in a loud voice that “I stutter! And I am working on my speech….” It was nerve wracking but I did feel much less fear of my stuttering afterwards.Still haven’t got enough courage to try another round though:)