Thursday, December 3, 2009

Self Esteem and stuttering

What is self esteem? I read this from the link: www.health.org/kid/feeling/emotion -under "What is Self-Esteem?" (The Story of Self-Esteem). It says "Self-Esteem isn't bragging about how great you are. It's more like quietly knowing that you're worth a lot (priceless, in fact). It's not about thinking you're perfect-because nobody is-but knowing that you're worthy of being loved and accepted."
I like this definition. It's what I work on besides fluency therapy. No, I am not a psychologist, but I have taken courses in cognitive psychology and feel it is a vital piece in fluency therapy. I don't believe kids or teens (or adults for that matter) can really improve their fluency without a great deal of self esteem. What do you think?

Stuttering was difficult for me when I was young. I didn't feel what I had to say was important. Why? I don't know. I have a father who praised me constantly. My fluency finally improved as an adult when I thought I was worthy to take my time to use tools and be listened to. How wonderful for me as a speech pathologist to hear from parents that they went to their child's parent teacher conferences and the teacher told them their child volunmeers in class to speak out loud, not allowing stuttering to stop them. How great it is to hear they have been talking more fluently outside the clinic room while exhibiting wonderful self esteem. So proud of all these kids and teens I work with and everyone else who stutters for having courage to believe in yourself and follow your dreams.

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