We were 9 people at this meeting, including a newcomer and three students for the La Salle graduate program.
Thales is new to the Philadelphia area. He is a person who stutters but he is also finishing his research study to become an SLP. His research project focuses on finding out what techniques used by people who stutter are more socially acceptable to non-PWS. He was able to get more than 100 participants and now he is compiling and analyzing the results. We look forward to learning what he finds out!
We discussed the topic: “What has stuttering done for you that is positive?” We all know the hurdles we have to overcome and the difficulties we have in many areas of our lives due to our stuttering. It is good to take a little time to notice what good things have come out of it too. For some, stuttering has given us a “jerk-filter”. We are able to filter out shallow people and get closer to those that are good and want to be close to us too. For others, it has made us more sensitive to others’ disabilities and we are more able to accept people with challenges. It puts things in perspective when compared to much bigger issues. For some of us, it gives us challenges we set out for ourselves.
We also talked about the differences between fluency and control of our speech. You can be in control whether you stutter or not. For example, you could have a very fluent day and you realize that eventually you will “crash” and the fluency will be gone. You can take control by adding some volunteering stuttering while still being fluent. This way when the “crash” comes, it won’t be so bad. You are still successful because you were able to control when and how you stutter. The success is in the control, not in the fluency.