Stutterers find new confidence in group therapy programme

Press, 6 July 1985, Page 19

Stutterers find new confidence in group therapy programme

A successful technique to control stuttering has been taught at the Speech Therapy Department of the Christchurch Hospital since January. The 12 people from the first three groups are now applying their skills in the community with increasing confidence. The causes of stuttering remain uncertain — they may be as varied as the stutterers — but there do tend to be more male stutterers than female. Famous stutterers include the Greek orator, Demosthenes, King George VI, and Winston Churchill. All developed individual means of controlling their stutter. Demosthenes writes of going to the seashore and speaking with pebbles in his mouth to train his voice to overcome his handicap and rise above the crash of the waves.

By

Though causes may differ, there tends to be similarity in effect — the blocked speech, contorted face, staccato sound, the breaks in the flow of speaking, increasing^distress for the speaker, and embar-

DENIS DWYER,

information officer,

Canterbury Hospital Board

rassment, frustration, or amusement for the listener. Normal social activities, such as making phone calls, ordering in a restaurant, asking for a specific item in a shop, become a dreaded or avoided activity for a stutterer. A stutter can stultify personality, hold back ambition, and inhibit personal relationships. The person may not reach potential because there is no free flow of language and expansion of personality. Stories are not told because they may not be completed. The Speech Therapy Department of Christchurch Hospital has for many years been working on a one-to-one basis with stutterers, but this is the first time there has been a comprehensive group programme. The approach is systematic with a learning of skills, and a gradual

application of them into a graded range of social situations. Home practice at night is an essential part of the course. “There are many advantages of group therapy,” sayS Mrs Brigette Larkins, chief speech-language therapist of the Canterbury Hospital Board. “Stutterers are learning in a more realistic situation. They learn from one another; there is the support from others in the group as they learn; we can treat more people; and, very importantly, with the ‘Speak Easy’ group there is a follow-up in the community.” Mrs Larkins and the other speech-language therapist running the courses, Miss Christine Musgrave, explain that the key factors in the smooth speech technique are control of a sustained airflow and speed. The control is at first

consciously applied and gradually becomes subconscious, but the stutterer must be prepared to practise the newly acquired skills every day for many months before this starts to occur. The programme involves an hour daily for three weeks, and is followed by attendance once a week at a “Speak Easy” group in the community as long as necessary. It is possible to have individual follow-up sessions after the three-week programme if required. “The availability of a continuing practice group for as long as it is needed does away with the isolation which can lead to failure to apply the technique,” Mrs Larkins says. Results have been ver/ good, as shown on pre- and post-course videos, but the stutterers freely admit that to maintain results in real life requires constant effort. They agree that their fluency and confidence have improved considerably, with periods of total flukey, and they all acknowledge

the importance of their weekly practice at “Speak Easy” to keep them on target. The effects have followed through into their lives. One man, for example, has achieved his ambition of being able to read in church; a Post office employee is now finding the telephone not an object to fear and is also finding it easier to meet people; a university tradesman has been confident enough to join a public speaking group and to take a senior administrative position, in his yacht club; another man has achieved his aim of taking part in drama. “The success of the programme,” says Miss Musgrave, “lies in the fact we do not attempt a cure. Rather, the stutterers learn a technique so they can help themselves avoid stuttering.” Those wishing to be referred to the programme need only ask their general practitioner to make a