Another "Vicks"

I am another "Vicks".. Let us use this name.. It is good. It doesn't require doctor's prescription!
Here is another of my experiences:
When I was a mere child, I was teased about my bumpy speech and it used to hurt.
When I was just about 7-8 years, I often would sit quiet and think of life ahead; Think of life ahead on the basis of what I knew of life then. For example I knew that when ever a man and woman live together a child somehow joins them- and that a child is a really wonderful being. But I worried that 'my child' might also stammer just like me. May be he too will be made fun of. The thought seemed so difficult to accept. How can one bring a child in a world like this? My little heart will tremble at the thought.
Then my thoughts began taking a different direction: May be, when I grow up and live with a woman, I should decide not to have a child..or may be I should adopt some other child..May be I should scrap the whole idea..

Many years since, I still sometime wonder: Is this a safe place to bring our children in?
Happy new Year to all of you, self help groups, support groups, Individual PWS, their families and friends, people working for CWS and PWS..
Vicks

Vicks' gift to 2009..

I am "Vicks". There are many experiences of my life.. Some good and some bad... i would like to share most of them. Then you can choose what to publish in the blog :) I was in class 8. It was the history class.I always feared reading in front of the whole class.That day sir told me to read a paragraph. I started and as usual started to stammer too but i continued reading. Sir's mood was bad that day i think because i stammered before also in front of him.That day, he behaved like a child and started making faces.. i mean like teasing me. said.."Cant even read 2 lines properly, what have u learnt in so many years ?" I said.. "Sir, I have stammering problem. " and I started crying my friends hold my hands. Sir put his head down, and said Sorry. I said.. No No Sir, its ok. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So it happens that people know your problem but still act in an unexpected manner. Its not our fault nor theirs. It just happens, accept it and be happy. And never over-react because it does not help, atleast not for us. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Vicks, thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I agree with you. What others do or fail to do, does not affect us as much as what we do or chose to do.... For example, your decision to share your story helps us to realise that inspite of superficial differences, all our stories are similar. And as we start to talk about these shared experiences, we give a new meaning to them- Meaning of a broader and shared identity and fulfilment. Keep writing. TISA would love to have more of it. sachin and Akaash

Self help

Self help movement may be slow but it seems that it is going on. I think, in the years to come, it might become another silent revolution like Alcoholic Anonymous movement in the field of healing and wholeness. Yes, there are similarities: both are chronic conditions and 'shame' appears to be a common denominator. Here is a link submitted by Viren:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/25/eveningnews/main4686616.shtml

M-M----Merry Christmas!

Season's greetings to all of you! Take care of yourself and others around you.
Celebrate - but within reason! Celebrate - as if there will be many more celebrations ahead! (which there will be.)
Please read this interview of Peter Reitzes at Stuttering Hub. Even he says that Self help movement is not what it should be.. ("I told you!!").
http://www.stutteringhub.com/stuttering_hub/2008/12/interview-with-peter-reitzes-cohost-of-stuttertalkcom.html
As the new year approaches, let us accept ourselves and each other, come out of our shell, of our nook- and get in touch with others. What binds us is not our weakness- we can turn it into a big strength. Self help groups are the way forward..
sss-ss-achin and a-akash for T-T-Tisa

Mumbai Self Help group meets!!

After a long gap TISA Mumbai Chapter held its 2nd meeting at Shivaji Park between 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m..Four members were present at the meeting,

1) Ajit
2) Ashish (New Member)
3) Rajkumar (New Member)
4) Venu

Here are the minutes of the meeting,

1) Excessive thinking and not able to sharing it with others can lead to a "internal talking" i.e. talking to ourself which we found were
common to all the members present in the meeting. To overcome this writing down the thoughts on a paper or typing it on computer
can help us to bring out our feelings.
2) One more thing was found common between the members present in the meeting and that is to "hurry to finish a assigned
job".When we have to do some job we mentally finish that job before actually it was finished.We think too much about the results
than process.To avoid this try to be calm when doing any task and enjoy the process of the work rather than thinking too much
about the results.
3) A need was felt of some freelancing jobs.If somebody have information about it kindly share with us.You can contact TISA (Mumbai
chapter) at
Ajit Potdar -99300 66424
Venu Gautam-98202 91098 or mail us at
mumbai.tisa@gmail.com
4) It was decided to have next meeting in Jan 2009.

Thanks & Regards,
Ajit Potdar

(Guys, you are on right track! Great! Keep at it. Write and read more on internet. Keep talking & smiling! sachin)

SSSstutter- a nice video

Here is a nice Video on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KtncNtL-SI

Also, dont forget to read the interview of the producer and the director. Very inetresting.
http://www.vfs.com/blog/2008/12/19/the-power-of-ssstuttering/#comment-8944

Here are some excerpts from the interview:

The reason why I think Ssstutter has struck a chord with viewers is because it speaks to something everyone can relate to.

No matter where you are from, when you are born, or how rich or poor you are, we have all struggled at one point or another. We wanted to convey that even with struggles one could rise above the hurdles

Essentially, this documentary is about hope. That’s something everybody can understand.

An Interveiw and quotations

Here is an interveiw with Dr Maya Sanghi (link submitted by Mr Mani maran of Chennai). A good honest interview. My reservations are only on one count: how many Indian parents will be able to pay for the long speech therapy? Will state ever subsidize this cost? And keeping these constraints will SLPs ever help and promote Support groups / self help group movement in India? or will they just stick to their bit in the clinic? Anyway TISA congratulates both the website and Dr Maya for at least taking up the issue:
http://www.indiaparenting.com/raisingchild/data/raisingchild026.shtml

There is another useful link submitted by Mr Hetal Vin; check it out- I assure you, you will return quite inspired:
http://www.david-rose.net/stammer.html

Indian SLP specialsing in Stammering

Received this link, through Dr Akash. It gives list of Indian SLPs specialising in stammering.
http://www.stutteringhelp.org/Default.aspx?tabid=298

TISA welcomes Mr Ganpathy!

The Chennai meet on 14.12.2008 was attended by Sivasubramaniam, Kanniappan, Ganapathy (a SLP) and myself. Mr.Ganapathy, a speech therapist by profession was kind enough to come to the meeting and has given some important inputs. He has assured us to continuously support TISA. His association and participation is going to be a great strength for Chennai chapter and TISA itself.

V. Manimaran

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.

Chennai meet

Dear friends,

The next Chennai meet is schedule to be held on 14th Dec at Nehru park,
Ponnamalli high road opp to Sangam theatre complex from 8 AM to 9 AM. Pl attend.

Manimaran

Group Therapy

Here is an excerpt, adapted from “Stuttering and Cluttering”, a book by David Ward. It discusses advantages of group therapy, which can be both facilitated by an SLP or equally well by an older PWS.

“..Commonplace in adult therapy approaches, group therapy is also used by some clinicians
with adolescents and older primary school children. With adult group therapy, groups which follow more of a fluency shaping approach tend to follow an intensive format running for seven or more hours per day, five days per week for two or three weeks, while those which take a stuttering modification perspective may use an extended time frame, with groups meeting for two hours or so once a week for up to a year.

Whether group therapy is long term or intensive it holds a number of advantages.
First, each individual within the group is now no longer the only person with a “speech problem”, and feelings of isolation are reduced. Group members can gain increasing confidence from being around others in the safe environment of the clinic (or SHG) where their speech may be no more or less remarkable than that of their peers. Particularly, there is the benefit of being able to explore both stuttering behaviours and reactions to stuttering amongst those who have experienced similar problems.

To illustrate this point I recall a group of teenagers recently seen at the Apple House who were exploring their feelings and attitudes toward stuttering as a part of an identification phase of the course. As a result of this discussion, the subject of avoidance when speaking on the telephone came up. One group member who had been a little more reserved than others hesitatingly volunteered the fact that he would sometimes give himself another name rather than stutter on his real name when speaking on the telephone; a strategy he felt very unhappy about using. This was the first time he had disclosed this information to anyone, but on hearing this, to his great surprise, two rather more confident group members immediately spoke up, saying that they used the exact same strategy.

All three had previously assumed that they were the only people who avoided in this way. The relief on their faces to learn otherwise was plain to see. So for the child, having one’s peers help in the process of identifying both positive and negative aspects of speech can seem more relevant than having these things pointed out by a clinician. Intensive group therapy also can be highly motivating since rapid changes in fluency can be made within a short period of time...”

Porky Pig

I came across Porky Pig, an animated cartoon character by Warner Brothers. Although I haven't seen much but he surely stutters. Does any one know more? Is there are attempt to make fun and is there any controversy about this? Here is the Wiki link for Porky Pig
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porky_pig

Freezing

Here is a technique from David Ward’s book “Stuttering and Cluttering”. I have used it some and it teaches you to remain calm when it is MOST needed- ie. when you are stuttering. Once you learn this, then you can build other technique on top of it- like block modification, eye contact etc. First practice this alone. Then with a mirror. Then with your pet mamba, cat or dog. Then on phone. Then with your best buddy etc. From easy to difficult situations.

"..FREEZING

This is a technique where, in the middle of a moment of stuttering, the client is called upon by the clinician to freeze the vocal tract and continue to hold the posture until told to release it. For example, a “frozen” prolongation would require a further stretching of the sound, whilst a block would continue to be held with the same degree of tension, in silence. To start with the moment of freezing is fleeting, but the length increases with practice. To help desensitize the client to listener reaction, the clinician may fake impatience or other negative behavior into the reaction. Repeated practice of this routine helps the client become more tolerant of the core stuttering behaviors, and also to develop a resistance to the feeling of time pressure and the perceived need to move forward quickly with speech, even if this is likely to result in increased struggle and more stuttering..."

What is stammering, after all??

I came across a thought somewhere: PWS often lack self-awareness, in the sense that they are acutely aware of the other (the audience reaction, real, imagined or feared) but no awareness of what is going on in their own bodies (throat, chest, mouth, face etc) or in their own minds (expectations of failing, fear, biases, embarrassment, shame, anger etc..).

Well, this is true also of so many of humanity too. We all are good at telling others what is wrong with them, but rarely have insights into our own true strengths and weaknesses. But may be it is more often a fact with CWS and PWS. Many children dont really know what all truly comes under the definition of stammering. Here is a list from David Ward, in a book titled ‘Stuttering and Cluttering’. Hetal Vin had very kindly passed it on to me. This list, I found was quite exhaustive and enlightening for me as a PWS at 50!

1. Hesitation (of one second or longer).
2 Interjection (such as “um” and “er”).
3 Phrase/sentence revision (where a speaker goes back to rephrase the
sentence or phrase).
4 Unfinished word.
5 Phrase/sentence repetition.
6 Word repetition.
7 Part-word repetition (which can be either sound, syllable or multisyllabic
repetitions).
8 Prolongations (the unnatural stretching of a sound).
9 Block (a cessation of sound, which can either be momentary or lasting,
arising from an occlusion in the vocal tract which is either at an
inappropriate location; at an appropriate location, but mistimed; or
both). Blocks are usually accompanied by increased localized tension.
10 Other (amongst other possibilities, this may include inappropriate
breathing patterns).

But obviously almost all the categories above could also be found in normal speech- as normal disfluencies; Except blocking. So what indicates the difference between normal and abnormal fluency if there is such an overlap?

First, the severity of each moment of disfluency will be a factor. A person
producing a single repetition of a single syllable word ten times in five minutes
of talking, is unlikely to be considered as stuttering; on the other hand,
a person repeating the same word eight times will likely to be perceived
as having a speech problem, even if such an event occurs only twice in a
five-minute speech sample... and so on..

In next few posts, I will excerpt some therapy ideas too form this book. Keep checking it out.

As we gear up to plan Chennai (and Vijaywada?) one day open sessions, I find following lines from Tanveer (a trustee in BSA and a core group member of TISA) quite relevant.

“..(National level conference) is a big plan and after the excitement dies down you realise, you dont know how and where to start...
You need to have grassroot level body. start by having a self help group. then contact with other self help group. take initiative to help others in forming self help group. get more members and give them responsibility. slowly form a network of selg help group and from a meeting..does not have to be national..maybe a state meeting of all groups in maharastra for eg.
then be in touch woth other groups in other states. then in together to form a national association. then go for a conference.

I know this seems like a long way till you have an association. but frankly all national associations started that way.
1. so concentrate on forming local bodies.
2. hold a mini one day conference (called open day) where you hold a few workshops/create awreness. you will need to invite PWS, speech therapist and parents/families of PWS. his means making public aware of the event.
if many such one day events are held in different places, its much better than a 3 day conference in one place.
Let's organise a small event first. if one cannot organise a small one day event, how can he/she be expected to organise a national conference.
then once a small event is organised, more people will get to know. get involved, get inspired to join and support.
lemme know how this suggestion helps

Tanveer"

BTW, Tanveer is getting married on 26th Decemeber!
http://naureenandtanveer.com/ (password, where needed is - wedding)
If you are anywhere close to Guwahati, do drop in to wish him.

Unconventiol ways to recovery

Here is a very interesting transcript of a phone interview with a recovered PWS; Some significant features in this story are: sometime a deeper change in life (changing jobs, city, friends etc) can help; self-knowledge, calmness and looking inwards can also help.. and what about Martial arts like Karate? Read on this very frank and interesting discussion with a recovered PWS:

http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/Infostuttering/recovered.html

Chennai Meet

Dear friends,
The next Chennai meet is to be held on 7.12.08 (Sunday) at Nehru Park at
Poonamalli road (opp to Sangam theatre complex) between 8AM and 9AM.Pl note that
this time is in the morning. Please note that the park will be closed at 9AM. The
main agenda is to discuss about the TISA meet at Chennai on 24.01.09.

So I kindly request to attend the above meet.

Regards,


V. Manimaran

World Disability day

We observed World Disability Day today in Vikasnagar. Many children, their care takers, social workers and others participated in the rally. Is stammering a disability? Tough question. But there are many who would respond in affirmative. The state may not do so, because that would have financial and constitutional implications. But people, whose life has been affected by this so called 'little speech impediment' know what it means carry the burden all their lives.
Anyway, we are happy that we went and walked in solidarity with children and adults facing various issues and difficulties in life. We told people who were interested, what stammering is and distributed some copies of "12 questions on stammering".

Keith Enquires and prays

Dear friends,
>
> I was so very sorry to hear, in the American News programs, about the
> terrorist bombs in Mumbai.
>
> I hope none of you were hurt. I hope all of you are safe.
>
> Today is the American Thanksgiving Day, I will give thanks for all the
> benefits TISA has begun to bring and for what lies ahead of you.
>
> My thoughts are with you all, but especially my TISA friends,
>
> Take care,
>
> Keith