Just finished reading, for the second time, Dr. Gunars Neiders' book, From Stuttering to
Fluency: Manage Your Emotions and Live More Fully. Dr. Neiders is a psychologist and a person who
stutters. He enlists Rational Emotive
Behavior Therapy (REBT) to address shame and anxiety so often at the heart of
our children’s struggle to talk.
I’m guessing his intention was to write for an audience of
adults as he doesn’t specifically address therapy for children. That said, I think the insights and
recommendations can be very useful in helping parents and speech therapists minimize
shame and anxiety in the first place. While
he states “We believe the low success rate is the result of SLP’s focusing
exclusively on changing the mechanics of speech,” I also believe that ANY focus
on the mechanics of children’s speech comes with tremendous risks of increasing
shame and anxiety. I don’t know that he
would agree, I just might have to ask him!
Neiders believes that most speech therapists are “ill-equipped
to directly or systematically address the fears and anxieties of their clients”
and I would go on to say that most speech therapists are over-equipped to
address the speech mechanics. They see immediate results in their clinics and these results are easy to measure.
He also emphasizes the whole picture – the goal of overall
quality of life versus fewer speech errors.
Neiders states “People who learn to control their anxiety about
stuttering often report that they become more fluent. With or without additional fluency, less
anxiety and greater participation in life adds to the overall quality of our
existence.”
If I had read this book when Eli was young, I’m sure I would
have done things differently. Dr.
Neiders not only introduces the idea of using REBT-focused therapy with those
who stutter, but he also provides a very readable
book with simple but potentially life-changing support strategies.
From Stuttering to Fluency: Manage Your Emotions and Live More Fully
by Dr. Gunars Neiders is available through Amazon.
Best,Doreen (Dori) Lenz Holte
Author of Voice Unearthed: Hope, Help, and a Wake-Up Call for the Parents of Children Who Stutter
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