Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Trudy Stewart on treatment/science

I am disappointed by Trudy Stewart's science part of the Today interview, but I agree with her point that The King's Speech is the first movie to reveal the psychosocial difficulties people who stutter face. But not on the science:

1) There is still no compelling evidence that early intervention is "really really effective.", and that it "prevents stammering going into adulthood". At best, treatment optimizes the psychosocial adaptation to a stuttering brain which might also reduce stuttering. Recovery is very likely a neurobiological process unaffected by treatment.

It's just a wrong hope for parents. They hope for a full recovery, but therapy can at best reduce stuttering and psychosocial maladaptation. And if they fail, they blame it on themselves.

2) I also don't agree with risk factors like family history and part-word repetition helping in treatment. They don't guide us in the method of treatment. They only inform us that some are more likely to keep on stuttering. Every child needs to be treated for what could happen, and not how likely they will stay stuttering? OK. I guess you can make the case that children with no risk factors should be less often monitored.


I would also add that family history could also point to an anti-risk factor. A friend of mine stuttered as a child severely (more than I did apparently), but he recovered fully. And his daughter went through the same process. I strongly suspect that genetics can also point to recovery.

3) The brain imaging has ALSO been on structure which is a more significant finding than just different brain functioning.

4 comments:

Pam said...

Hey Tom,
Still wondering if you can take a look at this article I posted on my blog about a weeke or ago. It has to do with brain imaging, and the apparent differences in the brains of men and women who stutter. The lead researcher of the study authored this paper.
Severl people commented that the findings, or purpose, is not clear. Several of us, myself included, were part of that study at NIH.
Your insight is appreciated.

http://stutterrockstar.wordpress.com/2011/01/15/brain-connections-differ-in-women/

Ora said...

They hope for a full recovery, but therapy can at best reduce stuttering and psychosocial maladaptation.

Your point may be partly true, but you weaken it by stating it in an unnecessarily absolute form.

At best, therapy can eliminate stuttering. It does for some people. Do you really believe that therapy is not wholly successful for *anyone*? Or are you just exaggerating?

Ora said...

The King's Speech is the first movie to reveal the psychosocial difficulties people who stutter face

No,there's at least one other.

Rocket Science in 2007 is about a fifteen-year-old stutterer who decides to join his school's debate team. The film deals extensively with his difficulties due to his stuttering.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Science_%28film%29

http://www.mrqe.com/movie_reviews/rocket-science-m100036633

Ora said...

There are other films with stuttering characters, which explore the difficulties stutterers face - presumably exploring the issues of stuttering in greater or lesser depth and with varying degrees of seriousness:

Lady in the Water - http://www.veilsofstuttering.com/reviews/ladywater.html

See also:

http://www.csun.edu/~ainslab/readings/PastLabMembers/Keren/Johnson_visualization%20of%20the%20twisted%20tongue_portrayals%20of%20stuttering%20in%20film%20television%20and%20comic%20books.pdf

http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/media/movietext.html

http://barnflakes.blogspot.com/2011/01/stuttering-in-movies.html