Self acceptance

Here are two more therapy ideas from David Ward’s book “Stuttering and Cluttering”. We need to remember that most of these ideas take lot of courage and long time to completely unfold at practical level. Yes, if you have a support of a Self help group, there is nothing like it. SHG is the right place to explore many of these ideas in practice.. If you dont have one, start one today; you could start a self help group even on phone, web etc.

Self-acceptance

The goal of this phase is for the client to accept himself as a person who stutters. That is not to say that the stuttering as it currently exists needs to be accepted, as this will be modified through therapy. The phase begins with the establishment of eye contact before speaking. The client is also encouraged to discuss both stuttering and therapy with a range of listeners. The client then notes their reactions and attitudes. Following a series of assignments involving meeting and discussing stuttering and stuttering attitudes, he explores his own feelings towards the disorder. This phase is somewhat analogous to Van Riper’s identification and desensitization phases.

Monitoring

Here, the client continues to develop awareness of what he does when he stutters, and what devices are used to suppress stuttering. At this time there is no pressure to change any behaviour, but the client is encouraged to take responsibility for their speech behaviour. Sheehan’s (1975) speech pattern checklist may be used during this phase to help with the identification process. This questionnaire is designed to confront the client with his stuttering and attitudes toward it.