[ Contents | Search | Post | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: David Dwyer
Date: 18 Oct 2009
Time: 19:12:49 -0500
Remote Name: 199.111.185.120
I think that the most frustrating thing about speech therapy, especially when I was younger, was that I expected an hour session every week to cure my speech. In reality, there is no cure. And, I had to try to actively employ what I had learned in order to get anywhere--you almost have to be your own therapist at some point. I didn’t realize this at first, and as a beginning SLP it is an important distinction to make, especially to your older clients. The techniques one learns can be awkward, and it is hard to use them in everyday situations because they seem to interrupt the "natural" flow of conversation, though no more than a stutter does! Thus, practicing them during therapy and even being put in a potentially awkward situation during therapy was important in gaining confidence to use them in real life. Being treated as a client and not a patient, actually learning techniques to do while caught in a stutter, and having the ability to work on things I thought I needed help with, gave me confidence to speak.