童镭 2006-4-27 21:10
Air Flow, autumn 2006, internet version
[SIZE=3]
这篇文章是何帝凡在答复我关于口吃的一些基本问题后，托另外一位学识渊博（这是何帝凡的原话哈）的朋友给我发来的信件。在这封信中，很详细地阐述了“怎样判断口吃的严重程度”、“怎样评价治疗方法的优劣”等等一些非常重要的基本问题！
该信件的内容非常重要，希望每一位能够读懂英文的朋友都仔细地看看！
[B]由于最近在着手于okoci的重新构建，我将不会翻译这篇文章！[/B]如果有哪位朋友愿意帮忙翻译的话，请直接在下面跟帖翻译，先谢了！
[SIZE=5][B][COLOR=darkred]Demosthenes tale shows not much new in therapy[/COLOR][/B]
[/SIZE]
[IMG]http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Portraits/Art/Demosthenes.jpg[/IMG]
[B]When it comes to therapies on stuttering, there is little that is new in the last 2300 years.[/B]
Professor Mark Onslow, director of the Australian Stuttering Research Centre at the University of Sydney, told the 2006 Australian Speak Easy Convention in Caloundra, Queensland, in March that many of the therapies today are no different to what Satyrus taught Demosthenes in ancient Greece.
When Plutarch wrote about Demosthenes, he described the way Demosthenes spoke. According to Professor Onslow, the kind of speech that Plutarch described sounded remarkably like stuttering speech.
[B]Satyrus, a Greek actor, offered to help Demosthenes with his fluency.[/B]
[LIST=1]
[*]Demosthenes was taught to speak in mellifluent cadences. Professor Onslow said it sounded to him as if Satyrus had taught a kind of smooth speech.
[*]Satyrus also made Demosthenes speak with a mouthful of pebbles. Professor Onslow suggested that if someone were to put eight black pitted olives into their mouth and talk it would sound like smooth speech.
[*]Satyrus told Demosthenes to speak while walking uphill. The steady plod of Demosthenes’ footsteps would have been the same as a speech-rate treatment for stuttering.
[*]Satyrus also told Demosthenes to go to the seaside and speak above the noise of the ocean. This is the same as delayed auditory feedback — the treatment that uses a masking noise. Noise in your ears is the theory behind the Edinburgh masker.
[*]Satyrus also taught Demosthenes syllable-timed speech — the theory behind smooth speech.[/LIST]After perfecting these skills, Demosthenes became known as the father of oratory.
Professor Onslow said the story of Demosthenes showed that not much has been researched in clinical trials which wasn’t discovered more than 2000 years ago.
[B]He said clinical trials take part in three phases:[/B]
[LIST=1]
[*][B]Preliminary trials:[/B] There are few participants in the trials. There can be safety issues. The trials are to see whether the therapy might be viable.
[*][B]Evidence:[/B] It establishes estimates of how many people will respond to the treatment. It can show the effect size and the dose.
[*][B]Randomised controlled trial:[/B] This is the “gold standard”. It asks: Is it better than nothing? How much better than nothing? Which of two treatments is better?[/LIST]He said such trials are good things to do because they can establish which therapy is best practice. They are another step in the search for the holy grail in the treatment of stuttering.
During the last 30 years, the number of trials undertaken for stuttering has been at an all-time high. But so has the number of people who have sought treatments for stuttering that were not clinically proven, such as the Edinburgh masker, psychological trials and psychoanalysis.
Professor Onslow noted that there had never been a randomised trial (phase 3) of smooth speech.
The only new experiment into stuttering was phonation treatment with a computer in 1983. But so far there hadn’t been a stage-2 trial into this technique. The computer software to undertake the trial was not publicly available.
When Demosthenes gave his first speeches, he was derided for his speech style. The assembly refused to hear him. He was distressed by the negative response.
Professor Onslow suggested that Demosthenes might have had a social phobia — a fear of being scrutinised and judged by others. That might have been why he resorted to self-incarceration. He also shaved half his head, presumably so he wouldn’t have to go out in public. He might have been suffering from social anxiety.
Professor Onslow said it was now believed that half those who seek stuttering treatment have a social phobia. It wasn’t until the 1990s that this was discovered.
He said there were two aspects to stuttering — stuttering speech and serious social anxiety. Clinical researchers had only looked at the first one.
A study was being written up on this topic at the Australian Stuttering Research Centre.
Professor Onslow believed drug trials were unlikely to find anything of value, though there were improvements.
He noted the Australian research that Brenda Carey was doing into speech restructuring treatments and also mentioned Angela Cream’s study, which found that people who stutter feel different from others when communicating in everyday life. That feeling does not go away, even after therapy.
In Minnesota in 1972, a man called Dick Martin came up with the idea of treating stuttering with a speaking puppet, called Suziebell. A child would talk with the puppet, which was in a box. But if the child stuttered, the light in the box was turned off. The child had to modify his or her speech so the light wouldn’t be turned off.
Professor Onslow said Lidcombe Programme used the same kind of technique as Suziebell. A parent presents verbal contingencies to their child. When the child gives stutter-free speech, the parent’s verbal contingencies are to praise the fluency, to acknowledge it and to request self-evaluation. When the child stutters, the parents’ verbal contingencies are to acknowledge the “bumpy speech” and to request self-evaluation.
Professor Onslow devised the concept for the Lidcombe Programme about 1985. Its phase-1 trial was in 1990, the phase-2 trial was in 1996 and its phase-3 trial was in 2005. It took 20 years from concept to the phase-3 trial.
He said stuttering was amazingly treatable in the first years of speech.
He wondered whether Satyrus, if he had come across a child of three, would have thought up the ideas behind the Lidcombe Programme.
Those who attended the convention saw a preview of a 20-minute DVD, called Tom’s Story, about the Lidcombe Programme.
Dr Anne Packman, of the Australian Stuttering Research Centre, said the DVD was not an educational resource for the Lidcombe Programme. Instead it gave a visual introduction to the programme.
She said when the Lidcombe Programme started it came across as sterile to parents and speech pathologists. It was only when people were trained in it that they got excited about it. Dr Packman hoped the DVD, made by a filmmaker for the ABC, would overcome that problem.
It will be launched in May.
[SIZE=5][B][COLOR=darkred]Wisdom of age gives startling new perspective on stuttering[/COLOR][/B][/SIZE]
A chance encounter with an 84 year old in a Melbourne retirement home gave Nick Tunbridge a valuable insight into stuttering.
Nick, author of The Stutterer’s Survival Guide and presenter of the CD Believe In Yourself, said his wife works in a retirement centre for Dutch people. It is an extensive place, with a large communal room.
When he was there one day, he found 30 or 40 people in the communal room. He introduced himself to a man called George, who was 84 years of age and who told him his life story. He had moved to Australia in the 1950s. He had won and lost a lot of money. He had fought in World War II.
Nick asked him: If he could take his wisdom from his life and condense it down, what would it be. But as he asked the question, he stuttered and had trouble getting it out.
Before George answered, he said he would like to ask Nick a question: “Do you think your stutter has cost you in your life?”
Nick answered: “I think it has.”
George said: “I don’t think so.”
George continued: “Never worry about the mistakes that you have made in your life.” He said Nick would run out of time to have the experiences that he wanted.
Nick asked those attending the 2006 Australian Speak Easy Convention in Caloundra, Queensland: Does stuttering hold you back? Does stuttering stop you from living the life you want to live? Is the way you are living your life now taking you to those changes?
He said stuttering features in how people who stutter think and feel. The thing that anchors them is the fear of making a mistake.
Nick told the story of going to a dinner with a group of mining executives. For many of the executives, it was a networking opportunity. One of the executives told a story about one of the others there, to show what a hard man he was.
The executive had been holding a dinner at his home when his son arrived home from university. The executive and his son hadn’t seen each other for months. When the executive saw his son, he said: “Get out.” He said he didn’t want a loser in the house. So the son picked up his bags and left. It turned out the son had only come second in his course at university that year. The father used failure to gain success.
[B]Nick gave a quick test. He read out five statements:[/B]
1. You feel inferior to others.
2. You are your own worst enemy.
3. You never forgive yourself for your mistakes.
4. You worry about how you came across to other people.
5. You are afraid of saying “no”.
He said that if people can identify with any of those statements then they don’t have confidence.
A study was undertaken in the United Kingdom into confidence. Of the participants, 50 per cent were extremely confident and 50 per cent had no confidence. It involved a battery of tests, including psychometric testing. It looked for four things that the confident group did.
They were found to be:
[LIST=1]
[*]Maximise chance opportunities.
[*]Listen to lucky hunches, such as clearing their minds of other thoughts.
[*]Expect good fortune. It can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
[*]Turn bad luck to good. Confident people can thrive on bad luck. They take control.[/LIST]Nick said the United States Congress and President declared the 1990s as the decade of the brain. Scientists wanted to find out how the brain works but also how it developed. The researchers found the brain contained 100 billion neurons, linked through a phenomenal amount of synaptic connections. They found that, by the age of 15 years, the brain starts to break down. Some stick. The ones that stick build. The ones that don’t stick fall away. Some develop as frictionless highways. Others were a wasteland.
An example was empathy. Some can empathise and it becomes part of their character. Other can’t.
He told of a goal-setting study that began at Yale University in 1953. Students were asked who had written down goals. Only three per cent had.
The study showed that goal setting could lead to healthy and happier lives. The financial success of the participants could be measured. When they were questioned years later, it was found that the three per cent who had had written-down goals were worth more than the other 97 per cent.
Nick asked: Do you have something powerful? Do you have something compelling?
He urged: Don’t make stuttering-based conditions limit your life. Don’t sit in your chair and say you didn’t do it because of your stuttering.
[SIZE=5][COLOR=darkred][B]Adolescents aided with smooth speech and fluency strategies[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]
“What is the most important tool in the toolbox?” Dr Susan Block asked at the Australian Speak Easy Convention in Caloundra, Queensland.
She recently completed research into adolescents who stutter. Traditionally, teenagers have been the most difficult age group to treat for stuttering. Dr Block, senior lecturer in the School of Human Communication Sciences at La Trobe University, Melbourne, was keen to find out what therapies and strategies work best for them.
The most vital tool in the toolbox for adolescents who stutter was found to be a combination of smooth speech and fluency strategies. Dr Block said they gave adolescents courage and resilience.
Adolescents have to cope with many things:
[LIST=1]
[*]Changes in body shape.
[*]Changes in body image.
[*]Developing peer friendship group.
[*]Conflict with parents/family.
[*]Demands of school
[*]Teasing and bullying.
[*]Peer pressure.[/LIST]She said adolescents who stutter have to deal with all of the above things plus:
[LIST=1]
[*]Additional teasing and bullying related to their stuttering.
[*]Self-consciousness about speaking.
[*]Avoidance of class presentations.
[*]Responses of family.
[*]Concern in social situations.
[*]Isolation and depression.[/LIST]She said it was vital to view adolescents carefully as they were particularly vulnerable.About 60 per cent of those who stutter have a family history of stuttering.There can be fluctuations in fluency and fluctuations in mood. The adolescents have to manage school issues and manage social issues.
The study she undertook involved 22 adolescents and 22 parents. The adolescents were studied both before and after treatment for stuttering.
They were given a questionnaire, which covered such things as the stigma of stuttering, disclosure of their stutter, unhelpful beliefs about stuttering and their perceived communication competence. A questionnaire given to their parents looked at the perceived impact of the stuttering on their child and the family.
Of the 22 participants, three were at primary school, 18 at secondary school and one at a TAFE (an Australian polytechnic).
When their speech was analysed, the number of syllables stuttered fell from 5.9 per cent before treatment to 0.4 per cent after treatment. But their speech rate rose slightly from 187 syllables per minute to 189 syllables per minute.
Of the 22, 18 of them (82 per cent) had had previous treatment for stuttering. Only 50 per cent believed they knew why they stuttered.
Their Self-Perceived Communication Competence (SPCC) was below average in all sub-scales pre-treatment. But dramatic statistically significant improvements were reported post-treatment.
Their Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA) was also below average in all sub-scales pre-treatment. But there was a dramatic improvement after treatment. Participants retained the same apprehension hierarchy before and after therapy.
Before treatment, 14 of the 22 adolescents reported being teased or bullied for stuttering. Only one of the 14 was reportedly not upset by the teasing or bullying.
Of the participants, 60 per cent said they felt stuttering never affected whether people wanted to be friends with them, whether they were asked to social events or whether people liked them.
As regards their Unhelpful Beliefs About Stuttering (UBAS), a statistically significant improvement was noted after treatment. But there was little change in the perceptions of others’ reactions.
The overall impact of the adolescents’ therapy was statistically significant impact reductions after treatment — in particular reductions in worry and “overall impact”. The adolescents also reported an extremely high desire to be fluent.
The best things they found about the therapy were meeting new people (including those who stutter), improved speech, and friendly, supportive clinicians. Eighteen of the participants enjoyed everything about the therapy. Things the other four did not enjoy included the repetitiveness of the therapy, clinicians asking them to repeat tasks and telephoning friends.
All felt that treatment had changed how they felt.
In the responses from parents, there were statistically significant improvements in their perception of the impact of stuttering on their child after treatment.
[SIZE=5][COLOR=darkred][B]Research into genes promising but inconclusive so far[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]
Stuttering is believed to have a genetic component, as evidenced by the number of families where the condition seems to be passed from generation to generation.
But the origins of stuttering remained elusive in genetic research undertaken by Professor Sheena Reilly, of the Stuttering Research Consortium, Royal Children’s Hospital and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne.
Speaking to the Australian Speak Easy Convention in Caloundra, Queensland, she said stuttering might be due to causal pathways rather than a single cause.
There was a genetic component. But no specific gene or genes had been determined as causing stuttering.
Genes are the instructions that tell the body what to look like and how to work. Genes are arranged along chromosomes.
She said the reasons why researchers were looking at genes for clues into why some people stutter was to provide better information for people who stutter, to predict recovery and persistence, and to identify and explain the causal pathway that might result in stuttering.
[B]The Stuttering Research Consortium has undertaken three studies: one on genetics, one on electrophysiology, and one on onset and natural history.[/B]
In the genetic study, the participants were adults who stutter who were in Perth in 2004 attending the World Congress for People Who Stutter. They were aged 28 to 82 years.
A 10ml blood sample was taken from participants. Any identification of the samples was removed and they were sent to a cytogenetic laboratory for analysis. The chromosomes were prepared for high-resolution g-banding.
After the study, the participants could choose to receive their individual result, to receive group results only or not to receive any results.
Two of the 68 participants were found to have balanced structural chromosomal abnormalities.
The study found a higher than expected number of chromosomal abnormalities, which could be related to the participants’ stuttering. The breakpoints highlighted regions of interest that could be examined when linkage studies were undertaken. These might lead to the discovery of a gene for a speech and language disorder. An abnormality was found in chromosome 8, which had not been previously highlighted in stuttering literature as being of interest.
In the electrophysiology study, the researchers were trying to determine whether stuttering was associated with epilepsy. Children who stuttered were compared with a group of fluent children.
Electrodes were placed on the head of the young participants at Royal Children’s Hospital. They were set up for overnight recording. The equipment was removed at home the next morning, 18 hours later. The researchers were looking for unusual spikes in the patterns of brain waves.
Researchers diagnosed the electroencephalogram results, to see whether they were normal, abnormal epileptiform or abnormal non-epileptiform.
Among the 17 children in the study who stuttered, the results showed three were abnormal epileptiform (25 per cent), three were non-abnormal epileptiform (25 per cent), six were normal (50 per cent) and five of the results were unreported.
Among the eight children in the study who were fluent, the results showed one was abnormal epileptiform, three were normal and four were unreported.
[B]Prof Reilly said the results were interesting but inconclusive.[/B]
A medication trial was also under way. Only one child was tested. He was given an anti-convulsant drug. The study showed the percentage of syllables that he stuttered on fell away as the medication continued. But it was not known whether his stuttering would recur when he came off the medication. It was early days in the study.
In the onset and natural history study, the aim was to document the onset of stuttering and describe how it developed. It was a nested, longitudinal observational study.
A total of 1911 children were eligible for inclusion in the study. Recruitment began at age two. There were monthly follow-up visits for 12 months. The study was still under way.
Prof Reilly showed a video of a two-year-old girl who was involved in the study.
She said further research into genes and chromosomes might help to understand what causes stuttering, to understand whether there is one cause or many causes, to tailor treatments to the causes, to lead to new and improved treatments, to understand why treatments work, to apply knowledge to other communication impairments and to develop ways to prevent the problem.
[SIZE=5][B][COLOR=darkred]Pre-treatment stuttering found to influence therapy outcome[/COLOR][/B][/SIZE]
People who stutter feel different from other people.
That was the main finding of a study undertaken by Angela Cream, a speech-language therapist with the Health Department in Western Australia.
[B]The significance of this finding in treating people who stutter is that how they feel after speech therapy is going to relate to how they felt before receiving therapy.[/B]
She researched adults who stutter who have learnt speech restructuring techniques, such as smooth speech, to control stuttering.
She said meaning is constructed. She aimed to interpret the experiences of people who stutter. It was a qualitative method of research.
The participants in her research comprised nine men and one woman. Their ages ranged from 24 to 54 years. Nine had had intensive therapy. Four had had therapy on more than one occasion. The time since their last treatment ranged from four to 20 years. Six were active Speak Easy members.
She collected data from her participants through interviews and discussions. She also used pre-existing information on stuttering and had additional contact with people who stutter.
She said speech restructuring showed measured outcomes, often zero stuttering at the end of treatment, near zero stuttering possible up to 10 years post-treatment, and a trade-off into natural and stutter-free speech. It concentrated on how people spoke. But relapse was common. Her research looked at why those relapses might be occurring
[B]The eight themes she discovered from speaking to people who stutter were:[/B]
[LIST=1]
[*][B]The circle.[/B] — Although some people can maintain fluency for a while, one stutter can throw that person back to where they started.
[*][B]Fluency has a price.[/B] — There are greater risks if you are fluent. People might have to face speaking challenges that they might have been able to avoid when they were dysfluent.
[*][B]Slightly behind in communication.[/B] — People who were given new fluency skills in therapy were discouraged when they found that there was more to communication skills than just speaking. Prolonged speech was found to be only one part of communication.
[*][B]You get caught out.[/B] — People tried to be seen as fluent all the time after therapy. They were anxious about stuttering and being exposed as a fraud.
[*][B]Enhancing control.[/B] — Speech therapy allowed people to control their environment.
[*][B]It deteriorates on the “outside”.[/B] — While people found they could maintain fluency inside the speech clinic and Speak Easy, they found their fluency deteriorated outside that environment.
[*][B]I try and I can’t.[/B] — Some people can’t achieve the level of fluency they want.
[*][B]You lower the threshold gradually.[/B] — Few people stutter as much after therapy as they did before therapy.[/LIST]Angela Cream said the study also illustrated the complexity of communication. She saw communication as being like a rocker in an Australian playground. A one-way rocker was like a person talking to himself or herself. A two-way rocker was like having supportive listeners and no surprises, such as with a therapist or in a support group. A four-way rocker was like communication with natural dynamics.
She said people who stutter needed to become strategic. They needed to maintain their skills in speech technique. But they also needed to analyse communication situations, such as:
[LIST=1]
[*]The risk of stuttering.
[*]The relative importance to them.
[*]What did they really want from the situation?
[*]What will they accept?
[*]Problem solving.[/LIST]She said problem solving was a way of filing through all the possibilities and coming up with what you might want to use. It had a long history in speech therapy and was used in therapy programmes.
Problem-solving strategies for people who stuttered included:
[LIST=1]
[*]Trial and error.
[*]Risk analysis. — Suss out the situation.
[*]Hill climbing. — Only go so far and look where you go next.
[*]Means end analysis. — Look at what you want, where you are and what you have to do to get to where you want to be.
[*]Drilling down. — This is for a very big problem, such as a wedding speech. Drill down to break it into a number of problems of smaller size.[/LIST][SIZE=5][COLOR=darkred][B]‘Teacher for natural speech’ urges people to learn calmness[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]
The goal to overcome stuttering should be feeling calm, according to Jan Heuvel, who teaches the Hausdorfer technique.
He said if a person couldn’t swim then teach them to swim. That makes them calm. As a result they can go into the water. Similarly, people needed to be taught to be calm when being treated for stuttering.
Jan said he was glad to tell the Australian Speak Easy Convention in Caloundra, Queensland, about his work and his hobby.
He said that when he was young he could hide his stuttering problem well. But he was scared of the moments when he couldn’t speak.
He suffered from his stuttering for 25 years. Then he came across the work of Oscar Hausdorfer (1864-1951). Jan’s interest in speech became a hobby and now it had led to a full-time profession.
Jan said speaking is like walking. You don’t think about your legs. He said he doesn’t think of his speech any longer. He is 47 years old.
He said the Hausdorfer programme is the shortest in the world. It starts with one session of two days, followed by a second session of two days, then a third session of one day, then a number of other sessions over one year. It works on behaviour. The problem is to learn to think in another way.
He said there are two cycles controlling speech:
[LIST=1]
[*][B]The cycle of unnatural speech[/B] begins with the feeling “I can not”. This leads to tension. This results in unnatural speech, which reinforces the feeling that “I can not”.
[*][B]The cycle of natural speech[/B] begins with the feeling “I can”. This leads to the person feeling calm. This results in natural speech, which reinforces the feeling that “I can”.[/LIST]He said people who stutter don’t need to learn to speak because it is natural. They want to be natural speakers. So they don’t want to build things into their speech that aren’t natural.
Hausdorfer found that people could speak when they felt calm. He found people couldn’t speak when they felt tense.
He looked further. He asked: What is speech? He decided speech is just making sounds.
Jan asked: “Do we need to think about it? Can anyone not make a sound? Let’s make a sound.”
He said it helped to close one ear when listening to a sound. He made a sound, with his finger in his ear.
Then he asked people to shape sounds. For example, the sentence “I go to school” contains four sounds.
He said sound has a beginning and an end. The above sentence has one sound. You have to shape the sound. Sounds could be made longer or intonation could be used. The key was to control and monitor speech.
Along with sounds, those who did Hausdorfer courses also did exercises to make them calm.
Jan said he knew he could control the speaking situation. He didn’t have a fear of speech blocks any more. That’s how he got free.
He said if people focus on their stuttering that makes the problem bigger.
He said the goal should not be speaking fluently. That’s the opposite of being calm. People who stutter need to focus on another goal — that of being calm.
It was also important to listen to your voice, he said. It would be “enough to fill up your tank of calmness”.
He said people shouldn’t be glad if they speak fluently. They should be glad if they feel calm. This was very tricky.
Jan said people who stutter don’t have to learn to speak. They can speak. If they are calm, they can be fluent.
He also worked with children who stutter. Treatment for them involved five one-day courses, spread over one year.
During Hausdorfer courses, he used taping to show people the changes that they have made over time. He showed videos of five course participants to show how their fluency had improved. He said the recordings are no exception. He has had about 1000 clients so far.
During question time, he said the therapy is not free in the Netherlands. It cost each person 1100 euros to enrol. He called himself a “teacher for natural speech” and said he was the only person in the world teaching the Hausdorfer technique.
When asked about his success rate, he said he had tried to measure it but gave up. He had no figures.
When asked about subjecting the Hausdorfer technique to clinical trials, he said he had thought of it. But he hadn’t found anyone in the last 10 years who was interested in doing this.
[SIZE=5][COLOR=darkred][B]Women who stutter given a chance to express their needs[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]
Is Speak Easy meeting the needs of women who stutter?
That question was asked in the Speak Easy Association of Western Australia recently. It led to research into whether women who stutter have different fluency needs to men and into whether stuttering has the same consequences for women as men.
Charn Nang, a speech-language therapist and doctoral student in Perth, told the Australian Speak Easy Convention in Caloundra, Queensland, that females were thought to be more resistant to an inherited susceptibility to stuttering.
Studies showed that if a mother stuttered, there was a 36 per cent chance that her son would stutter but only a 9 per cent chance that her daughter would stutter. But if a father stuttered, there was a 22 per cent chance that his son would stutter and a 17 per cent chance that his daughter would stutter.
She said [B]few studies had focused on women who stutter:[/B]
[LIST=1]
[*]Silverman and Zimmer (1979) found women who stutter possessed a statistically higher level of self-esteem than men who stutter.
[*]Another study by Silverman (1982) aimed to find out what speech-language therapists and university students thought of women who stutter. The therapists thought that stuttering exerted a stronger negative impact on females and children but university students thought that males experienced more negative impact.
[*]Schuell (1946) found there were more males who stutter because males received more pressure from their parents along with expectations for more adequate speech than the child could produce.
[*]Feldman (1977) found that during the development of women’s liberation in the 1970s there was an increase of female self-referrals for stuttering treatment.[/LIST]Charn and speech-language therapist Lakdini Geevaratne, president of the Speak Easy Association of Western Australia, held three workshops in Perth with women who stutter. They aimed to find out what differences the women perceived compared with males who stutter.
[B]A total of 17 women attended the workshops. They were asked five questions:[/B]
[COLOR=darkred][B]1. How has being a person who stutters impacted on your life?[/B][/COLOR]
All women said it had had a negative impact on their life. Five out of 17 said it had had a negative impact on their career and jobs. Ten out of 17 said stuttering affects their choices to speak or not. Many mentioned a lack of confidence and feelings of anxiety while speaking.
[COLOR=darkred][B]2. Are there enough services for people who stutter?[/B][/COLOR]
The yes/no responses were equal (five out of 17 each). The reasons for “no” included a lack of stuttering awareness in the community, access to services was challenging (“Speak Easy is not visible enough”) and a lack of government funding.
[B][COLOR=darkred]3. Are there different consequences for women and men who stutter?[/COLOR] [/B]
Many women had nothing to say about this question.
[COLOR=darkred][B]4. Do you think stuttering support and treatment programmes cater for women? [/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR=darkred][/COLOR]
Seven out of 17 said yes. Four out of 17 said no. Two out of 17 said they didn’t know. Four didn’t answer.
[B][COLOR=darkred]5. Are there any other comments that you would like to make? [/COLOR][/B]
Two commented that there was a need for stuttering awareness. Another person wanted more information about Speak Easy and a fourth person wanted more information about treatment for stuttering.
Charn said she and Perth Speak Easy member Peter Dhu would present the research this year at the International Fluency Association Conference in Dublin, Ireland.
A follow-up workshop with the 17 women would be held in Perth during April to “touch base” with them.
There would be more opportunities for the involvement of those women.
Outlining other research into stuttering, Charn said one per cent of people stutter. Onset was usually within the ages two to five years. Recovery was estimated to be 80 per cent, which meant 20 per cent of those who start to stutter in childhood would continue to do so in their adult lives.
She said how stuttering affected people’s lives depended on their experiences and how they reacted to the condition.
Stuttering was shown to have a big impact on careers. In one study involving 232 people, Klein and Hood (2003) found 70 per cent of adults who stutter agreed stuttering reduces a person’s chances of being hired or promoted. Another study found more than 53 per cent felt stuttering interfered with job performance. A third study showed 20 per cent of people who stutter had turned down a job or promotion because of their stuttering.
[SIZE=5][COLOR=darkred][B]Long Speak Easy friendship leads to a life of wedded bliss[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]
Bruce Whitfield tells of the joy of marrying fellow Canterbury Speak Easy member Nina Clark.
After a 7½-year friendship and a two-year courtship, my Speak Easy colleague, the delightful Nina Clark, and I became joined in holy matrimony on Saturday, January 7.
The day dawned fine and pleasantly warm, with virtually no breeze and just a little high cloud. The rest of the day was just as perfect.
The venue, the University of Canterbury Staff Club and its grounds, were first class, as was the catering. The ceremony was held outside.
Nearly 50 family members and close friends attended, including fellow Speak Easy members Allan Staite (and partner Cinty), Andre Van den Berg and Kyu-Won Hwang, who stepped straight off his flight from Korea and arrived in time for a cup of tea and a piece of wedding cake.
Prue Wignall, a speech-language therapist in private practice, was the celebrant, and she proved to be an excellent choice.
Nina’s family made sure we got the full works. Nina was at her most beautiful, wearing an ivory slipper satin gown decorated with lace and pearls, and crowned with a long flowing veil. My best man and I wore black suits, black waistcoats and mauve ties. Nina’s only niece, Angela, was her bridesmaid, looking radiant in soft mauve. Everybody sported beautiful flowers. Dried flower petals were thrown, after the ceremony, as confetti.
My 15-minute speech contained just one minor dysfluency, so I was well pleased, and everybody seemed to laugh at the appropriate moments. As people who know me would realise, I was well prepared and well practised for what was the most important speech of my life.
Struggling to control all the emotion, both during the ceremony and during my speech, was the most challenging task, but I survived to tell the tale.
The wedding car — my car — got appropriately “trashed” with streamers, aerosol shaving foam and several empty tin cans tied under the rear of the car.
All the photographs and videotaping turned out well. We will take the photo album to the New Zealand Speak Easy Convention in Dunedin in April.
Nina and I enjoyed four warm, quiet and relaxing days in Hanmer Springs for our honeymoon.
[SIZE=5][COLOR=darkred][B]Joy, privilege to see McGuire entrants turn their lives around[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]
Bruce Whitfield, of Canterbury Speak Easy, continues his journey on the road to eloquent speaking.
On Wednesday, November 23, I checked into my room at the Christchurch YMCA for my fifth McGuire Programme four-day intensive course.
Chris Bland, director for the programme in New Zealand, had done sterling work in attracting 13 new students to this course. Many of the inquiries and confirmations came from people who had seen the TV3 Close-Up documentary, filmed at the previous intensive course in Palmerston North in July.
In collaboration with Chris, I had reserved the accommodation and booked a big room at the Christchurch Arts Centre for the course venue. Both turned out to be very suitable. Gerry Hill, from Brisbane, was a new face to all of us, but he proved to be an excellent instructor and the 15 returning graduates gave him great support.
I got several opportunities to give instruction. I only found out which modules were going to be mine about 2½ weeks before the course. They turned out to be mainly the psychological ones — sports mentality, self-actualisation and the Harrison hexagon — the ones I wasn’t too well versed in. But plenty of swat seemed to bring me up to speed, and I thought I coped with my tasks reasonably well.
The lunches at the Y café were delicious and the evening meals at the canteen just as good, as well as being good value. We were handy to the city centre for doing contacts and the weather was good, apart from a cool breeze.
The new students included a former Canterbury Speak Easy member, Evan Swale, and Auckland Speak Easy member Christine Hope. Kyu-Won Hwang (also from Canterbury Speak Easy) attended as a returning graduate. There was certainly a wide range of personalities in the group, but by the Sunday afternoon we were one big happy family. As part of her farewell speech, an 18-year-old new graduate from Wellington, called Grace, gave a stunning rendition of On My Own, from Les Miserables. This showed that people who have a stutter don’t stutter when they sing.
I was assigned to be the primary coach of two new graduates — one in Auckland and one in Christchurch. It is a real joy and a privilege to see so many people begin to turn around their lives in such short a time and I shed many tears of happiness — just as most other attendees did, including some visiting family members.
Some of you might be wondering why I keep going to more intensive courses. It’s because they are just magic. They revitalise my enthusiasm, re-groove my technique and make me work hard. I enjoy setting a good example, like helping others, like seeing (and hearing) others achieve and like the inspiration that others give me.
It gives me the chance to achieve something worthwhile that I can use every day, as well as allow me to move outside my comfort zone.
On March 18-19, I organised and ran a very successful refresher weekend for the Canterbury McGuire graduates. There were 10 of us, including four new graduates from the recent Christchurch intensive course. Jamie Dusting had flown down from Wellington, and Evan Swale drove up from Timaru. Evan proved to be the surprise of the weekend, by setting a wonderful example of good technique and showing he had developed a deep, rich, powerful speaking voice. Todd Thomas had done sterling work in providing another two large posters, with the basic notes, for one of the important modules of the programme. The group now has nine of these posters (with hopefully more to follow) to pin up and refer to during such gatherings. Everybody took the opportunity to give some instruction and everybody reached full potential by the end of the course. Everybody said it was a very beneficial two days and that they had had fun.
The evening of May 17 is the time to congregate in Palmerston North for the next McGuire four-day intensive course.
Dave McGuire will be there. It will be a rare opportunity for us to meet the man in person.
As always, this will be a “live-in” course. If you are unsure of whether this course is for you, talk to a seasoned graduate about it. If you do not know one, I can put you in touch with one in your area.
The course will finish about 4pm on Sunday, May 21.
If you wish to make further inquiries about the course, contact Chris Bland, regional director, McGuire Programme (NZ); phone 06 323 5313; email [EMAIL="chrisbland@xtra.co.nz"]chrisbland@xtra.co.nz[/EMAIL] or visit the website at [URL="http://www.mcguireprogramme.com"]www.mcguireprogramme.com[/URL]
[SIZE=5][COLOR=darkred][B]The unexpected benefits of . . . gathering in Dunedin in April[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]
By John McMorran
of the Otago branch
While the weather may be getting colder in Dunedin, this has not stopped a full turnout of all members to our fortnightly meetings. As usual, meeting topics have been varied with a wide range of participation from all members.
A couple of weeks ago, the talk within the group got round to tales on rodents. Some funny and interesting stories were told about mice, rats and possums. James Fox had the best tale about possums in his ceiling. He unwillingly nailed down the gap in the roofing iron while the possums were still in the ceiling. Poor possums.
We held our branch oratory competition on March 13, with all speeches based on the national oratory competition topic, “The Unexpected Benefits Of . . .” The five members who took part all put a different slant on the topic. (Unfortunately Chris O’Leary and Brian Lynn were out of town.) This year Andrew Holyoake was first and Margaret Deuchrass second. Andrew spoke about the unexpected benefits of having a stutter and Margaret about her trip to Wanaka on a catch-a-bus. Andrew and Margaret will represent the Otago branch in the national competition. The judges gave all members very positive comments and suggestions on how we could improve our techniques and content.
The guest speaker on the Friday night of the conference will be J B Munro, a past president of the Crippled Children Society and at present involved with the international organisation for disabilities. He is a very good speaker and his talk should be entertaining and informative.
Ngaire Renton has been organising a raffle for April 5-6 to boost our funds.
We look forward to seeing everyone in Dunedin at the New Zealand Speak Easy Conference on April 28-29.
[SIZE=5][COLOR=darkred][B]Toastmaster makes it into Auckland final[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]
By George Dabb
of the Auckland branch
One of our Waitakere members, Laurence Bacchus, also goes to a Toastmaster group. Recently he won the speech contest there, then went on to the area contest which he also won. That is an achievement because not only did he beat the others but he did it despite his stutter. He took part in the Auckland final on April 8 but missed out on a placing. He did so well to go as far as he did.
Before the last meeting of the Waitakere group, I had a phone call from a man who had had some treatment in the early days from speech-language therapist Roz Young before Speak Easy was formed. Noel Hutchinson, of New Lynn, came to the meeting and recalled that he attended Auckland Hospital with some others for about two hours a week. We hope he will attend regularly.
At Whangaparaoa, it was good to see Alistair Pearce again. A long-time Speak Easy member, Alistair has moved from Dargaville to Warkworth where he is semi-retired. We have also had an inquiry from a speech-language therapist regarding a client in the area who may benefit by coming to a Speak Easy meeting.
[SIZE=5][COLOR=darkred][B]Tauranga member weds his sweetheart[/B][/COLOR][/SIZE]
By Warren Brown
of the Waikato branch
Tauranga Speak Easy member Ken Gore married his sweetheart, Heather McGonigal, at Bureta, Tauranga, on March 18.
It was a traditional white wedding, followed by a reception then a rock ’n’ roll dance. Ken and Heather went to Napier for their honeymoon.
Ken said he survived the wedding speech without too many problems. He had practised his speech at Speak Easy before the big day.
Rotorua Speak Easy member Mary Farrelly has returned to Auckland. Mary has been an enthusiastic member since the group was formed in 2000.
Rotorua’s youngest member, Maurice Topia, aged 50, has moved into a rest home. Maurice’s caregiver, Dawn Bonnington, was having heart problems and was in the queue to be fitted with a pacemaker. It was decided to settle Maurice into a new home in case Dawn became too ill to look after him.
Maurice is now living in the Kawaha Point Manor, in northern Rotorua. He has already hosted a Speak Easy meeting in the lounge there.
Air Flow
Air Flow is the quarterly magazine of the New Zealand Speak Easy Association.
Its library reference number is ISSN 1172-2355.
The opinions presented in Air Flow are not necessarily those of NZ Speak Easy.
All correspondence to the editor: Warren Brown, 250 Te Rapa Road, Hamilton 2001,
New Zealand; ph/fax: 07 850 8234; or by e-mail at: [EMAIL="warrenbrown@actrix.gen.nz"]warrenbrown@actrix.gen.nz[/EMAIL]
Editorial deadline for the next issue is June 1, 2006.
The New Zealand Speak Easy Association Incorporated is a support group for people who stutter. Its mission statement is: “Achieving fluency with confidence and support.”
It is a member of the International Stuttering Association, giving it links with people who stutter in more than 40 countries around the world.
The ISA’s vision statement is: “A world that understands stuttering.”
For further information on stuttering, contact the New Zealand Speak Easy Association at P.O. Box 16-554, Hornby, Christchurch, New Zealand; or check out these websites:
New Zealand Speak Easy Association: [URL="http://www.speakeasynz.org.nz"]www.speakeasynz.org.nz[/URL] or at: [URL="http://www.shopzone.co.nz/speakeasy"]www.shopzone.co.nz/speakeasy[/URL]
Air Flow (for back issues): [URL="http://www.geocities.com/speak_easy_nz"]www.geocities.com/speak_easy_nz[/URL]
International Stuttering Association: [URL="http://www.stutterISA.org"]www.stutterISA.org[/URL]
Stuttering Home Page: [URL="http://www.stutteringhomepage.com"]www.stutteringhomepage.com[/URL]
President: Dean Cook. 37 Napier Avenue, Takapuna, Auckland; ph. 09 486 2804; e-mail [EMAIL="the.cooks@xtra.co.nz"]the.cooks@xtra.co.nz[/EMAIL]
Vice president: Ian Taylor, 327B Oceanbeach Road, Mount Maunganui 3002; ph 07 575 9828; e-mail [EMAIL="immt@nettel.net.nz"]immt@nettel.net.nz[/EMAIL]
Secretary: James Fox. 33 Barclay Street, Dunedin 9001; ph./fax. 03 473 0924; e-mail [EMAIL="jamesfox@actrix.co.nz"]jamesfox@actrix.co.nz[/EMAIL]
Air Flow is printed with financial assistance from the Lottery Grants Board, which disperses profits from the New Zealand Lotteries Commission’s gaming activities.
This funding is gratefully acknowledged.[/SIZE]