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From: Russ Hicks
Date: 16 Oct 2004
Time: 21:34:58 -0500
Remote Name: 24.1.53.111
Hi AGAIN Sarah! ------- I went to Shady Trails in 1950, 51, 54, and 57. I've talked to several people who went there starting in early 60's and they report that they DID remember some talk in camp about the psychological aspects of stuttering. But back in 1957 and before, we did NOT even acknowledge the existence of anything below the waterline of the stuttering iceberg. (See my paper at http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/isad6/papers/hicks6.html for details of the stuttering iceberg.) The theory was that if you simply learned to CONTROL your stuttering, you'll stop stuttering. That may have worked for some people, but it certainly didn't work for me! ------------------- To this day, people like the Hollins Institute in Virginia and Martin Schwartz teach forms of "fluency shaping" totally ignoring the huge underside of the iceberg of stuttering. And I've talked to hundreds of people who've had their lives all but ruined by this short sighted approach. The animosity towards Hollins and Schwartz is frightening... ------------------- To be fair, the people who have attended those programs and have been helped by them are typically those people who, for whatever reason, don't have much emotional baggage about stuttering in the first place. And I say good for them. Whatever works. We're all so different. Go figure. ------------------- Yes absolutely, tell me that guy's name who went to Shady Trails. I'd love to talk with him - especially if he was there when I was. It was a great camp regardless of the failure of my own stuttering therapy. I even have a Yahoo group set up for Shady Trails now in hopes of meeting old friends. See http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ShadyTrails/ for details. ------------------- Thanks for the offer, Sarah. I hope to hear back from you either on this forum or via private email. ------------------- Russ, RussHicks@mail.com, Dallas, Texas, 972-881-1451 home, 972-489-6169 cell, My home page: http://www.RussHicks.com NSA home page: http://www.WeStutter.org