Thursday, April 06, 2006

Transfer-Wk 22,Thursday.-Published in the Demosthenes Society newsletter

Today an article I wrote on Therapeutic Blogging was published in the Demosthenes Society April newsletter. The article is basically a cleaner version of what I wrote a few weeks ago.

The Demosthenes Society is a support group for People Who Stutter. Although it is now open to anybody, the majority of members are PFSP graduates, and the meetings are really focused on fluency shaping techniques. I find it really helps me to focus on my targets, and motivate me to move forward with my therapy.

I would like to welcome any Demosthenes Society members, who may have made it here from the newsletter. Here is a list of all the postings I've written on the Demosthenes Society.

There are members in the Demosthenes Society who have maintained controlled fluency for years, with a few members who graduated from the PFSP 30 years ago! Hopefully, in 30 years somebody will be saying that about me. Anyway, please feel free to leave a comment, correcting any misinterpretations I may have about the PFSP technicalities. ;-)

You can read the newsletter here. There is also a really good article from the Wall Street Journal on the effects of stuttering on your job search.

As far as practice goes, today was pretty successful. This afternoon, I needed to make a phone call to somebody I really didn’t want to speak to, and would have been a total basket case under normal circumstances, but I was able to focus on my targets and speak with amazing control.

And this evening at the mall, I decided to utilize the environment to promote my own agenda, and turned my shopping into a practice session. It actually went quite well; I had great control, with only a few missed targets speckled throughout. The Full Breath (diaphragmatic breathing) target was almost always the missed target.

One thing did occur to me though; I seem to be only approaching approachable people. I have to wonder, is this a halfhearted approach? Maybe I should start planning to approach people I haven’t seen yet. For example; the next person to come around that corner, or the next person I see in a baseball hat, or the next brunette I see in a short skirt ... whoops! ... don't tell my wife. ;-)

Maybe after that I can start approaching the most intimidating person I see, do something offensive, then try to explain my way out of it. I’ll be saving my life, while monitoring my targets … but maybe that’s a bit beyond me right now. ;-)

Anyway, again; welcome Demosthenes Society members. I hope you find value in what I have written.


Not meant as advice, please find a qualified therapist if you are interested in similar therapy.

2 Comments:

At Tuesday, April 11, 2006 12:17:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is really terrific that you are getting better at this. You have tackled this issue head on, which is more than many of us do. Continue to fight the good fight!

Also, I have to say, you have really done a great thing here by posting all this information. I am considering going to some kind of fluency shaping program, and this website really takes the whole mystery out of what is involved. Also (and I realize that professional therapy is best, and this website is not meant as therapy), for those are not in a position to enroll in such a program, this website provides great information that can help a stutter get a handle on the mechanics of speaking. It is easy to just throw up one's hands in frustration, but there really is a science to all this. The Gentle Onsets section was particularly helpful. A while back I thought I had gentle onsets right, but sometimes we forget the basics, and your posting helped me get back to those basics.

 
At Wednesday, April 12, 2006 11:29:00 AM, Blogger John MacIntyre said...

Thanks Geoffrey,

I hadn't recieved a comment from you since before my therapy. I'm glad you're still reading.

Thanks for the compliments. I hope you do consider the fluency shaping .. I think it's great.

Regarding those who can't afford to take the program, I would hesitate to recommend learning from my blog. See todays post for my thoughts on this.

 

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