Stuttering workshop in San Francisco March 26

[Thomas David Kehoe]

The San Francisco chapter of the National Stuttering Project will
present a day-long workshop on Saturday, March 26.

Ted Peters will facilitate the workshop. Dr. Peters is a Ph.D.
speech-language pathologist and professor at the University of
Wisconsin. Dr. Peter's book "Stuttering: An Integrated Approach"
is the best book on stuttering I've read ($47 from (800) 638-
0672).

The workshop will be at St. Mary's Cathedral Hall, 1111 Geary (and
Gough), in San Francisco, from 8:45am to 4:30pm. The fee is $35,
or $15 for students/low-income. There will be a reception and
dinner afterwards.

The title is "What To Expect From Speech Therapy." The title is
somewhat misleading, IMHO. The great insight in Peters' book,
which he will be discussing at the workshop, explains the two main
approaches to treating developmental stuttering:

The first approach is called "stuttering modification" therapy,
and is associated with Charles Van Riper and Joseph Sheehan. This
approach assumes that you will always stutter. The first step is
to accept this fact. This therapy sometimes includes stopping
strangers on the street and telling them that you stutter.
Another exercise is voluntary stuttering. The goal is to reduce
the fear and anxiety associated with stuttering. You also
practice exercises to stutter more easily. The goal is
communicate, saying whatever you want, wherever you want, even if
you don't sound "normal."

The problem with stuttering modification is that you still
stutter. Fear and anxiety is largely unconscious, and may remain
no matter how hard you try to overcome the fear. For many people,
stuttering modification therapy just doesn't work.

The second approach, "fluency shaping", begins with defining
"fluency" in four dimensions: continuity, rate, rhythm, and
effort.
- Continuity is smooth speech, or the lack of repetitions,
prolongations, and blocks.
- Speaking rate should be normal, about three to five syllables
per second.
- Rhythm means normal stress patterns, rather than monotonously
stressing each syllable equally.
- Fluent speech requires neither mental nor physical effort.
A person who devotes full attention to speech production can't
listen to another person, or generate ideas and opinions.

"Fluency shaping" therapy is associated with William Perkins and
Ronald Webster. This approach assumes that you are capable of
fluent speech. The treatment usually begins with improving your
continuity by reducing your speaking rate (talking very slowly),
reducing rhythm (talking in a monotone), and using concentrated
mental effort. After mastering this "turtle talk", you gradually
increase your rate, add rhythm back in, and reduce your mental
effort. Fluency shaping often uses electronic treatments, such as
DAF.

The problem with fluency shaping is you may never get beyond
trade-offs between continuity, rate, rhythm, and mental effort.
In other words, perfect continuity, rate, and rhythm may require
so much mental effort that you can't carry on a conversation. Or
you may have to talk so slowly and monotonously that the result is
no better than stuttering. Or you may talk fluently with an
electronic fluency aid, but revert to stuttering without the
fluency aid.

Both therapies may only provide temporary relief from stuttering.
According to one study, "virtually all forms of intensive
behavioral treatment for stuttering produce rather dramatic
increases in fluency only to encounter serious relapse later"
(Boberg, Howie, Woods. Maintenance of fluency: a review. Journal
of Fluency Disorders, 4: 93-116, 1979.)

Dr. Peters advocates an integration of these two approaches.

I hope my above brief summary interests you to attend the
workshop. I'm sure Ted Peters will present these ideas better
than I can.

I believe that Dr. Peters' workshop will benefit anyone who
stutters. His presentation should:

- help you choose a speech therapy program to suit your goals and
needs.

- give you self-therapy ideas that you can do without a
professional speech-language pathologist.
--
"Why my thoughts are my own, when they are in, but when they are out
they are another's." - Susannah Martin, hanged for witchcraft, 1692
Thomas David Kehoe ke...@netcom.com Casa Futura Technologies
Ask me about treatments for STUTTERING and other speech disorders.
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