Today I had a PWS visitor in my office. He is working as a service engineer with eureka forbes. After talking for sometime I came to realize that he is one of us. I was using bouncing sometimes to emphasize my identity. He was trying his best to hide his. I finally told him "You are like me. I mean regarding speech." He said "I used to have much problems earlier. Stammering happens due to lack of confidence.Now I am in such a job that I have to talk daily to many people."
I admire his courage to take up a job which requires talking over phone and in person to many strangers. But what amused me the most was that he tried his best to prove that his speech is much better than mine- in other words he is not like me, a stammerer.Our society has made stammering such a taboo that many stammerers live their whole lives just pretending to be a fluent speaker.
PS: I used to behave exactly like this guy before I came across TISA.
My question:
I visited a friend's house yesterday. His son is about 8 years old. I was using bouncing intentionally while talking to my friend. I noticed the child copying my bouncing. My question is should I use bouncing while speaking in front of children . Will they not copy bouncing and later on stutter?
3 comments:
I dont think child will bwcome a pws...It needs more than imitation.. An inner propensity, often mediated by certain genes. Ofcourse, if possible you or father can help child understand that you are practicing your therapy and it is poor manners to imitate others...
Ah, yes,many of us carry a burden unnecessarily all our lives because we think that it is politically correct or that it is a socially valued trait...! Sadly, we realise late in the day what a waste of time and energy it had been.... Imho!
Child's imitation could also be due to "Mirror neuron" phenomena...I quote:
"Many researchers believe that automatic imitation is mediated by the mirror neuron system" (From wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neuron#Automatic_Imitation)
What this means is: Imitation, sometime, may not be a conscious act...Let us think about it!
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