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About the presenter: Susan M. Cochrane, a "Board Recognized Fluency Specialist" and mentor, is a licensed Speech and Language Pathologist in New York and Florida. She began her career in 1982 in the public schools, designing a treatment program for children who stutter. Currently she has a private practice, Freedom To Speak, specializing exclusively in treating people who stutter. Susan spent ten years as an adjunct professor at Nazareth College of Rochester, teaching the graduate course in fluency disorders. She is active in national associations serving on boards whose goals are to improve the lives of those who stutter. Susan speaks nationally and internationally about stuttering. |
"Brain Time"
A clinical technique for children to aid in reducing impulsivity to speak
and for a "preparation time" prior to speaking
by Susan Cochrane
from New York and Florida, USA
"Wait Time," a several second time lapse, is and has been an effective technique used for years in stuttering treatment. "Wait time" is used as a technique to resist time pressure and as a technique to "prepare" or to "get set" prior to speaking. Wait time is a difficult concept and technique to teach children. This "clinical nugget" is a means for explaining to children the benefits of "wait time," as well as a visual representation of how a "thought" moves through the brain to finally arrive at the oral structures necessary to produce speech.
Increased technology has allowed scientists to explore the brain more precisely. In regards to stuttering, Deryk Beal, who presented his paper; Advancing neuroimaging Research of Stuttering at the Scientic Symposium (2011) prior to the National Stuttering Association meeting, discussed the function of white matter within the brain of people who stutter is not as well developed as for those who do not stutter, suggesting communication between various areas of the brain are less well connected. Clinically, this may suggest that s short (2-3 seconds) "wait time" allows the message the time it needs to travel between areas of the brain, communicating necessary information.
A simple drawing of the brain, depicting a meandering path, or a pathway that has breaks in places symbolizes to a child, the need for "brain time." So, "wait time" becomes the more meaningful terminology, "brain time" for a child in treatment for a disorder of stuttering.
SUBMITTED: August 27, 2011
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