It was an especially difficult challenge because we had guests, students from the graduate program in speech pathology at Cal State Fullerton. They asked about the role of speech therapists in our lives: what it was in reality, what it should be ideally. The answer: the perfect speech therapist listens more than speaks; is supportive; pushes us to do the things we're afraid of; understands that stuttering isn't just about speech, it's about us who we are as a whole; tailors the therapy to our particular needs instead of following a rigid program.
No matter what our experiences with speech therapy have been like, I think it's useful to engage with the topic, to answer questions from speech therapists in training. Yes, it helps them. But it also helps us. We can gain a better understanding of what we need as people who stutter. And if we understand what we need, we can then work on giving it to ourselves, rather than rely on someone from the outside to do it. We can listen to and respect ourselves; acknowledge that we aren't just people who stutter but complex human beings with many strengths and talents; we can challenge ourselves to face our fears and become better communicators.
One of our group members suggested a self-help book he found particularly useful: William D. Parry's Understanding and Controlling Stuttering. Did you read it? What did you think? Are there other books that you found helpful and inspiring?
The great thing about facing your fear of speaking is that the more you do it, the better at it you get. Maybe you don't get as good as you'd like at speaking fluently all the time. But you get really good at not being afraid. In my view, that's the greater good and something really worth working hard for.
When Tam mentioned Bill Parry and his book "Understanding & Controlling Stuttering" at the last meeting, it brought back memories from 30 years ago. Bill & I met in 1982 and we co-founded the Philadelphia Chapter of what was then the National Stuttering Project (NSP) in 1984. (The NSP became the NSA in 1995). Bill became the group leader & I assigned myself the position of "Advertising Director".
ReplyDeleteI remember when Bill was just starting his research on what causes stuttering. He did a ton of work on this. He talked to many people in different disciplines and read widely. He's a lawyer, so I don't know where he found the time. He discovered that some types of stuttering may be linked to the Valsalva mechanism (after the Italian anatomist Antonio Maria Valsalva, 1666-1723), a set of reactions that take place in the body when one is undergoing physical exertion. I remember Bill presenting some exercises at several of the meetings based on his theory. I don't remember most of the details. I knew he had eventually written a book about it, but I never got around to reading it. Maybe now I will.
Bill goes to every NSA convention; he's the guy wearing the kilts. The last time I saw him was about 5 years ago when he was out here for his daughter's graduation from UC Irvine.
tommyg