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From: Ellen-Marie Silverman
Date: 22 Oct 2007
Time: 10:47:39 -0500
Remote Name: 64.12.117.66
[". . . Through my observations of other speech-language pathologists, I have often experienced scenarios in which children are commended for their "slow, easy, gentle speech." The SLP is helping the child become mindful of their speech, but I am now considering or wondering if this awareness may not have the reverse effect of what the SLP or parents have intended. As referenced in your article, the child may not have even been aware that he/she had a speech problem. What are your thoughts and feelings of such comments to children in the intervention process? Do you think such comments have the reverse effects from what parents or SLP's may have intended? Do you think these positive statements are being internalized into a negative awareness within the mind of the child?"]] >>> Dear Paulette, as you no doubt ascertained by reading "Creating Conditions for Change," I am not in favor of working directly with a child if I believe that experience might cause the child to feel threatened or diminished in any way. The child's sense of self-worth is too important to risk stunting to gain some, possibly, short-term, motor speech fluency. I view developed and developing stuttering problems as communication problems that involve distorted and typically harmful self-talk and withered inter-personal communication. In that context, I believe the speech pathologist's goal in working with a young child is to intercede in such a way as to prevent, to the extent possible, such faulty and harmful communication from developing. That is why I believe that if/when a child is struggling motorically to speak fluently, the best help may be to work through the parents and, possibly, other caregivers, such as classroom teachers, to reduce or eliminate negative interpretations a child my make about attending speech therapy. So, much could be said . . . Your concerns are well-placed and need to be seriously considered and taken into account. Perhaps, if you read the novel I wrote for children from 9-12 years about a 10 year-old boy taking his first constructive steps to deal with his stuttering problem, Jason's Secret, you may find some helpful suggestions about how to proceed. I wrote it for several reasons: 1) To be a tool to help children with stuttering problems realize they are not alone, 2) To help children with stuttering problems experience a catharsis of some of the feelings and beliefs they may have about having a stuttering problem so they may constructively address them, and 3) To help concerned adults remember how the mind of a child generally perceives the world differently than an adult and to appreciate that stuttering problems are communication problems not speech problems per se. Because of your sensitivity to relating to children in such a way as to strengthen their self-esteem, I stronly advise you to read it. It is widely available, especially through online bookstores. I am not advising you to buy the book so I can get rich. (Smile.) I truly think you will find some useful direction within its pages. >>> Best. Ellen-Marie Silverman