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From: Russ Hicks
Date: 13 Oct 2007
Time: 13:19:29 -0500
Remote Name: 71.123.180.215
Hi Amy, Thanks for your good words! My past therapy was in the stone age when dinosaurs roamed the earth. And the "speech correctionists" as they were called back then, simply didn't KNOW what we know today. The stuttering iceberg was unknown (see my 2003 ISAD paper called 'The Iceberg Analogy of Stuttering' at http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/isad6/papers/hicks6.html ) and fluency was all that mattered. "You can stop stuttering if you work hard and long enough." We ALL believed that. So bottom line, my past therapy wasn't helpful at all. ..... Of course we DID discuss avoidances and other really harmful things that you can do to yourself. They never advocated the use of secondaries such as singing, swinging your arms, substituting easy words for hard ones, etc. The emphasis was on total CONTROL of your speech. If you CONTROLLED your speech with hard work and concentration, you could become fluent. They just didn't know... ..... But we KNOW better than that today! We know how important attitude is. We know how vital it is to work below the waterline of the iceberg. We know that it's next to impossible to CONTROL your stuttering in the long term. (In the short term it's really pretty easy.) ..... So don't let the past failures dissuade you from doing the right thing based on what you're learning today. You CAN make a significant difference in people's lives - and have it carry over to the long term. You can - and you WILL - make a very good SLP! ..... My very best to you in school and in your life. ..... Russ