Stuttering Therapy and Support Groups: Partnering to Enhance Long-Term Change

Stephen B. Hood, Ph.D.
The University of South Alabama

Presentation given at the 2000 Annual Convention of the American Speech-

Language-Hearing Association.  Washington, DC.  (2000).  Other Panel members included Peter Ramig, Nina Reardon, & Lee Reeves

A. Opening Comments

1. As a normally fluent Speech-Language Pathologist who has been involved with self-help and support group activities through the National Stuttering Association since 1978, my brief remarks this morning will necessarily cross the boundaries of the SLP and the PWS, and be related to developing partnerships for long-term change.  To some extent, this involves telling something of my own "personal story" of involvement.
   
   I guess I had a bit of an advantage.  As a child growing up, I had quite a number of friends who stuttered.  As a teenager I worked at a summer camp, where there were a number of campers and counselors who stuttered.  In highschool, my English teacher during my junior year was an absolutely superior teacher, in spite of a stuttering problem which was quite severe.  In college, I had a fraternity brother who stuttered.
   
   Many years ago, Van Riper believed that adults who stutter could benefit from three things:  Individual Therapy, Group Therapy and Self Therapy.   If he were living today, I think he would look with favor on the role played by self-help and support groups.
2. During my years as a graduate student at Wisconsin, I participated in many of the group therapy meetings conducted by Professors Lois Nelson and Ted Peters.  Both Lois and Ted are persons who stutter.  I even had the opportunity to lead a few of the groups.  These were formal group therapy sessions, planed and conducted by SLP's and/or graduate students.  Although this was before self-help and support groups became viable at the National level, it showed me that powerful things can happen when persons who stutter meet in a group environment.
3. During my early years At Bowling Green State University in Ohio, I tried to conduct formal group therapy sessions.  In the late 1970's and early 1980's we tried to form a local chapter of the National Stuttering Project.  Unfortunately, we did not have a strong nucleus of potential support-group leaders, and scheduling was always difficult, but we at least got started.  I think that those who could attend benefitted from the experience. 
4. When Hugh Morris was ASHA Vice President for Clinical Affairs, he asked me to Chair an Ad Hoc Committee that would look into self-help and support groups.  This was about twenty years ago.  This brought me into contact with people like John Ahlbach of the NSP, and Dave Williams, Gene Walle, Herb Goldberg and Sandy Wagner of the National Council of Adult Stutterers.   A brief summary of our report was actually published in the Asha Magazine.  I spent a lot of time at several ASHA Conventions talking to persons who stutter.
5. Since 1984 I have been at the University of South Alabama, in Mobile, and we started our chapter in about 1986. 

High Points:

1. 1. A Regional NSP meeting in Mobile, back in the 1990's where we had about 25 people from FL, AL, MS, LA.
   2. Regular meetings held twice per month averaging 7-11 in attendance.
   3. Full page – Front Page, article in the Sunday Health-Care section of the local newspaper.

Low Points:

1. 1. Losing members who moved away, or just lost interest, and not being able to replace them with new members
   2. Showing up, and finding that I was the only person in attendance.

It was not all that many years ago, that there was a certain "us against them" attitude, in terms of how SLP's were perceived by persons who stuttered.  Several of my very good friends, who are both SLP's and PWS's, warned me to expect to take a lot of flack and abuse from some of the PWS's who still had issues to deal with, and who still  had axes to grind, and who would still hurl darts and arrows in my direction.  Only rarely have I experienced negative reactions, and when I did, they were quite mild.

B. Partnering – Ideally,  Partnering should involve Speech-Language Pathologists,  and Persons Who Stutter, as well as a support group infrastructure.

1. Support  organizations and self-help groups should not be considered a replacement for professional therapy.  Rather, they can supplement therapy.  Formal Therapy and Support Groups can become Partners for Long Term Change.  In our NSA Chapter back in Mobile, I am a full participant.  My major role is as an NSA Member, and not as a Professional SLP.   I try not to play a major leadership role, but I do help when called upon to do so.
2. Support groups can be especially beneficial for persons who do not have access to therapy, and for persons who are no longer enrolled in therapy, yet who can still benefit from periodic meetings with other who have experienced, and who still do experience, a stuttering problem.
3. Support groups provide a safe place to meet: A place to communicate, a place to practice speech skills in a non-threatening environment.
4. Self help groups provide a motivational booster short, which can help maintain previous gains.
5. Persons who stutter can develop leadership skills in general, and VERBAL Leadership Skills in particular, through involvement in their support group at the local level, and through participation in activities at the national level.  I know of a number of persons who stutter, –  who have pushed and expanded their own personal envelopes and gone on to become been highly successful in Toastmasters.

C. Some Personal Observations and Comments

1. It is easier for normally fluent clinicians to learn about characteristics of stuttering than it is to learn about characteristics of the PEOPLE who stutter.  Participating in the NSA, and attending local, regional and national NSA events are ways to learn more about people who stutter, and how to help them.
2. The graduate students of today are the clinicians of tomorrow.
   
   In 1993, ASHA made a terrible mistake when it changed the standards.   It is most unfortunate that the ASHA no longer requires that students have academic and clinical exposure to the areas of voice and stuttering.  At our university, we still require that students receive academic and clinical experiences in voice and stuttering.  Students are able to attend our Local Chapter Meetings, and when scheduling permits, and NSA Members visit my classes and talk with the students.

3. As normally fluent SLP's, we can never become members of the stuttering culture.  However, through hard work to better understand stuttering, and through our ability to gain an increased degree of empathic understanding, it is possible to be accepted into the stuttering community.   I have spent more than 30 years trying to make this happen.
4. Far greater understanding and appreciation of stuttering, and of people who stutter, came from my direct participation in support and self-help activities such as those sponsored by the National Stuttering Association.
   
   For me, personally, —
   
   I have benefitted from my participation at the local level, and I encourage other Speech-Language-Pathologist's to do the same.
   
   I have grown as both a person, and as a professional, through my attendance at annual NSA National Conventions, and I encourage other SLP's to do the same.
   
   I am honored to have been asked to present Workshops at Regional conferences, and at National Conventions, and I hope that other SLP's will one day have this same marvelous opportunity.
   
   In closing, let me say that I believe my participation with Support Groups and the NSA has made me a better classroom instructor, has made me a better clinical supervisor, and has made me a better clinician.