[ Contents | Search | Post | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: David Shapiro
Date: 10 Oct 2011
Time: 08:23:46 -0500
Remote Name: 152.30.155.29
Hi Ed, I’m glad to hear that you too reflect on dreams. I might add that I am flattered you have reflected on mine. As people who stutter, you and I both have discovered that speech-language pathology, like any other human service discipline, has within it some professionals who are more adept than others at meeting individual clients’ needs. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you why this is the case. Maybe it is due to knowledge about stuttering and/or available therapeutic tools, as you suggested. Maybe it is due to other interpersonal factors (e.g., clinician behaviors, attributes, manner of interaction, language, etc.) or intrapersonal factors (e.g., clinician thoughts, feelings, beliefs; needs; satisfactions and rewards; among others). Despite our discipline’s important and increased attention to evidence-based practice, I don’t think we know exactly why one clinician might be more effective than another with respect to a particular person who stutters. There are so many dynamics operating (i.e., of the client, the clinician, the process, etc.) that render the interaction remarkably complex. This question continues to be one that is being addressed for the sake of improving the quality of services we can offer (as a profession) and receive (as people who stutter). What I do know is that one “size” of treatment cannot fit all. I like your idea of being open to bringing together a potentially diverse treatment team in order to help puzzle out the intricacies and nuances so as best to apply what we know for the benefit of clients, both individually and collectively. That, I believe, is one of the intentions of this remarkable 14th annual online ISAD conference – It is bringing us all together with a common focus and shared purpose. It is free and open to anyone/everyone who can access the internet. I wish you luck as you pursue a route to bringing together kindred spirits, or “comrades in a common struggle,” to create the best by and for others and, thereby, for oneself. David