Can we make a 9 year old go for stuttering therapy?-Part 1

About 4 years ago I was treating a wonderful nine year old girl I will call Dori. (not her real name).  Dori was discharged from speech therapy in school because her SLP said she hadn't noticed any dysfluencies in the speech room.  Dori was thrilled to not be pulled out of class anymore for speech therapy.  Her parents brought her to me because she was stuttering significantly at home. Dori later admitted that she became a pro at hiding her stuttering in speech in school.  She was bright and could easily subsitute words.

Dori was approximately 33% dysfluent in my speech sessions (this was an average over 5 sessions).
She presented with whole word repetitions, part word repeitions and laryngeal blocks. She also displayed lip tremors.  At the end of 4 months, Dori's fluency had increased dramatically as did her eye contact and communication skills (we worked on these too).  She was giving oral presentations in front of the class and tried out for the school play.  One day, Dori asked me why she still had to come to speech therapy .  She was adorable and trying not to hurt my feelings. She explained that she enjoyed our sessions and the fact they were fun, but she was happy how she spoke.  She said her friends didn't care that she stuttered and she spoke all the time. In fact, her teacher called her parents reporting that she was disrupting the class by talking to her friends often.  (This was actually music to all of our ears). I brought her parents in for the next session to talk about progress and whether she should continue. Dori's parents were torn.  They thought she had progressed and was doing great, but they could not let go of the dream of total fluency.  I think we resolved this conflict in a positive and healthyy way.  This blog post will be continued at week's end, but I would love to hear how other parents, grad students or speech paths. have resolved this issue.  What do we do as professionals when a family wants perfect fluency and the child is happy with the progress made? Please share your thoughts with me. tks Lori

Marital bliss-Does it make a difference in stuttering recovery?

Tonight I spent the evening with my parents and brother and sister n law. My father stuttered severely as a child and up until age 40 or so. I was talking to my father as my mother was involved in an intense conversation with my sister n law. I was talking to my father about a stuttering issue as I can only talk to another person who stutters. He all of a sudden inquired of my mother if his stuttering bothered her when they were dating ( he was 16, she was 14). She hesitated for a moment and said she didn't really remember. She then stated that it might of but she probably liked the fact that he let her talk. My mom is a talker. My dad become a talker in the last 15 years or so. She stated she was so happy for him that he could say what he wanted now. I was thinking that my dad never received fluency therapy. He never talked about stuttering when he was young nor did his family. His parents were immigrants. He is a pharmacist and stuttering did not impact his career or family decisions. Why not? What makes him different than others? I welcome others feedback as to why some are so affected by stuttering and others not. BTW-My parents are married over 49 years.

Intensive fluency Programs-Do they work?

ok-it's Sunday and I have time to write-so hear goes.

Let me give you some important background on me. I BELIEVE in intensive fluency for teens and adults, even though I fell on my face the first few times I did it and paid thousands of dollars. I don't recommend it for all the clients I see. I customize for each one. Having said this-why do I believe so strongly in it?

I believe especially for moderate to severe people who stutter, it is important to feel fluency fast and with support. The reason why I failed is because the first few programs I took didn't deal with emotions, fears and shame I had being a person who stutters. So for example, I came home almost 99% fluent, but had never raised my hand in school ( I was in college then). So I tried to talk in class. After all, I had the tools. So I raised my hand, and my fear shot to my larynx. I blocked. Ok, so in my mind, I failed. After all I had just taken this three week course and was told I should be fluent. Unfortunately, the negative experiences started to build again. I had one friend who stuttered who took the course with me. She is a SLP too. We both started having the same experiences and both crashed. How could this be. We are both bright, driven and ambitious people. Did we miss something? We reviewed all the mechanics and still were going downhill. To make a long story short, it took us about 15 years of going back and doing refreshers with various SLPs until we found a few who realized the power of uncovering layers of fear, guilt and shame. As a result, I think I know how to teach effective fluency skills with great results. What does that mean? It means that fluency strategies can only be taught with committment, hard work, sacrifices and support. One must practice often and daily, read what I have read myself and recommend on overcoming fear and increasing self esteem, talk to other people who stutter almost daily and never ever give up. I will provide you with support. I can promise you that! I can also tell you, your stuttering will decrease. How much? That will depend on how much you follow the program and how much you are willing to sacrifice to achieve fluency. I just figured out how to use YOU Tube-so watch for my clip. It can be done. I did it!! I did it the hard way, I hope I can help you do it with less frustration and increased satisfaction. tks again for taking the time to read thi

The Road Less Travelled

One of my favorite books is The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck. It is a great book for personal fulfillment and self growth as well as highly recommended reading. Let me know your thoughts on this or any other self help book you feel is worth recommending.

I also have always loved the title. I definitely took the road less travelled in my professional life. After being an accountant for five years and not feeling satisfied, I went back to school for my masters in speech pathology. How strange was that? I stuttered severely and couldn't even say my own name. I had been through speech therapy with fluency only lasting a few days. I hadn't even heard of the concept of acceptance at that time and was always hiding my stuttering. The word "stutter" would bring chills to my spine. I was petrifed about sounding different. However, I had a strong drive to help people and had witnessed my father work as a pharmacist despite his stuttering. I also have a wonderful friend who stutters who was completing her speech degree at that time. I have and continue to admire her courage as she failed public speaking twice due to her stuttering and never gave up. She is a speech pathologist today and continues to be my dear friend and someone I admire for her strength and courage.

I thought I would talk about acceptance and then recovery. I never know the right words to use. Is it recovery from stuttering? Is it overcoming stuttering? Not sure, but the important thing is the outcome. My stuttering was always like spinning a roulette wheel. You never knew what would come out. I would go through somewhat fluent periods and then it would come back full force. I didn't like the lack of control. My stuttering pattern changed often and I was truthfully exhausted thinking about it all the time. About 5 years ago, I started to feel like a failure. No one could understand why. After all, at that time, I was a speech pathologist for over 10 years, had two beautiful daughters and a supportive husband. However, I still was switching words, petrified of public speaking and embarrassed by my stuttering. So, slowly I decided to "come out" and not hide anymore. There was the acceptance piece but then I decided to strive towards "recovery" because I was still stuttering alot and felt so much tension in my larnyx. By that time, I had years of fluency shaping therapy behind me but little involving the cogntive aspects of stuttering. I wanted it all and wasn;t giving up until I found inner peace. Over the last 5 years, I read numerous self help books, got involved in the National Stuttering Association (great organization, www.westutter.org), started to use my fluency shaping tools and to my delight found they worked often. I had to practice and go for some additional speech therapy, but honestly practicing with others who used the same tools I did helped the most.

I can now pick up the phone without fear, go into a doctor's office and communicate, talk into a microphone and spread the word about stuttering treatment and work with wonderful clients who stutter. I still do stutter at times, but when I use my tools I am more fluent than not. I have no shame of stretching out a word or using an easy onset. It is so much better than stuttering. If I do stutter, I move on and don't beat myself up. This is what I can offer you as a speech therapist. I do recommend fluency shaping tools along with overcome feared situations. There is help available and I truly believe in therapy I provide. So, did I recover from stuttering, overcome stuttering or just find the right mix of what I feel works? Who knows what the right terminology is. What is important is what I have accomplished and what I have learned on this journey to help people who stutter become more fluent!! If that is your goal, it can be done!! Never give up!

The Nassau/Suffolk Long Island Stuttering Connection

Please help me connect people who stutter on Long Island. Please join NSLIStutteringConnection@yahoogroups.com. For those of you don't know, I am a speech pathologist who specializes in stuttering therapy for children and adults who stutter. I overcame a severe stuttering disorder myself. Any questions, please e-mail me at Lori@allislandspeech.com.

Intensive therapy offered this summer. Please inquire.

Does acceptance mean not striving for fluency enhancement?

Hi everyone-
I have come to realize that acceptance means different things to different people. To me,it means accepting that I might always stutter but practicing and never giving up my quest to improve. Why? because I like being as fluent as I can be. It is what I teach my clients (the more intensive the better-I will be offering more intensive courses so please inquire-for those of you who don't know I took the same course as John Stossel and Annie Glenn ). Also, an added tidbit-Annie Glenn went for years of speech therapy following her 3 week course in Virginia as did I. I follow a similar fluency shaping philosophy with a little attitude kicked in. I am hoping to be able to offer a group intensive in the future. I just need teens or adults who will commit. Anyway, I know others choose to stutter openly and accept in that way. My only concern is that the constant pushing of words out can be exhausting and with slight modifications this can be worked on. Thanks for reading and all questions or comments welcome. Have a good night! Also, thank you to all the parents, teens and grad students who attended our first annual TWST (Teens who stutter) support group meeting of the National Stuttering Association. We welcome all new members. It was a terrific group and I was honored to be a part of it. I want to also thank my co-leader Dr. Jason Davidow of Hofstra University and my adult co-leader Steven Kaufman for all their support and for reminding all of us that stuttering does not have to stop you from saying what you want!!!

Intensive Therapy vs weekly therapy for stuttering

Many of you have asked me what the difference is between short term intensive therapy with long term follow up vs. weekly therapy. I can say I have seen both have positive effects on fluency. Generally, the more severe the stuttering, the more intensive the therapy. I say why stutter severely if you can learn how to be more fluent and manage stuttering in everyday life? For me, intensive therapy with long term follow up worked. For others, weekly therapy is preferred.

How can I help you? I can help you learn how to help you coordinate your breathing. I can help you connect your words. I can help you not let stuttering control you. I can help you become more fluent!!!! Lori@allislandspeech.com, www.allislandspeech.com