Think of a recent therapy session.
First two appointments with an 80 year old actress who's stutter had recently deteriorated.
Describe the experience
I had never worked on dysfluency with a patient. I asked the patient for a history of her dysfluency and a medical hstory. She had a diagnosis of Parkinson's but had had a stutter as a child and her dysfluency appeared to be due to a stutter rather than a dysarthria. I used the 'Overall assessment of the speaker's experience of stuttering' (OASES) to get a baseline for therapy. This assessment involved getting information on the patient's reactions to their stuttering, communication in daily situations and quality of life. I haden't quite been prepared enough for the way the questionnaire elicited personnal/ emotional reflections/ information.
How did this make you feel?
I felt empathetic torwards the patient and felt that it was the first time i had truely considered the emotional impact of having a stutter. I made a conscious effort to listen to the patient's experiences.
What would you change and why?
I would revise my counselling training materials and really consider how i could incorporate these skills into a therapy assessment session.
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