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From: Alan Badmington
Date: 22 Oct 2004
Time: 02:55:40 -0500
Remote Name: 81.77.105.45
Hi Jennifer, You don't mention the age of your clients. Some adolescents experience difficulty opening up to adults (and their peers) about anything, not just stuttering. It's an uncertain time in their lives. In order for me to have confided in someone, he/she would first have needed to gain my trust. It would have been essential that I felt safe in their company, knowing that my views mattered and would be treated with respect and confidentiality. I think that this applies to clients of all ages. I am aware that (in the UK) some speech and language therapists visit the schools of children who stutter. They attempt to explain to classes exactly what stuttering involves, and arrange group discussions. I saw a television documentary about this a year or so ago. The results appeared most encouraging and created a more open dialogue between the PWS, his teachers and fellow pupils. The British Stammering Association has distributed CD roms to schools in the UK, in an attempt to create a greater awareness about stuttering. I regularly give talks to community organisations and find that the audiences are genuinely interested in what stuttering involves. They simply do not have any idea of how it influences our lives. The more people we tell, the better it will be for everyone. It is to our mutual advantage to disseminate information as widely as possible. Thank you for contributing to this discussion. Kindest regards Alan