New Approach to Stuttering: Diagnosis & Therapy (Speech and Language Disorders)

The author presents a new approach to the therapy of stuttering. Instead of accepting stuttering and trying to make it more fluent, he prefers to motivate a patient to effectively battle the condition. This book presents a theoretical basis for such an approach and offers diagnostic tools, including normalized and standardized scales as well as questionnaires for examining patients with stuttering in different age groups. While guest authors review research on the effects of pharmacotherapy, which is regarded as controversial by many, the author focuses on discussing the approach and achievements of Central and Eastern European therapists which have not been heard of in the USA and Western European countries. He supports systemic therapy which affects all the basic stuttering factors, i.e. speech disfluency, logophobia, muscle tension and interpersonal communication in a comprehensive way. Speech disfluency is not regarded as a problem, but merely as an obstacle on the way to accomplish a patients personal goals. The author presents particular methods for solving the problems of patients with stuttering and considers motivation to therapy important, though it is reduced due to the acceptance of the disorder. Although he supports using natural speech in the course of therapy, he does not reject other techniques. On the contrary, the author believes that therapeutic methods should be adjusted to the needs and abilities of a patient instead of forcing said patient to use a method simply because it is universal. The author believes therapies are subjective to the patient in question. Additionally, the author is optimistic and encourages both therapists and patients to share his optimism as well. About the Author Professor Zbigniew Tarkowski has been researching psychogenic speech disorders (stuttering, mutism), institutional communication (in hospitals and nursing homes) as well as logopaedic diagnostics. He has authored a number of standardised and normalised tools, including the Screening Logopedics Test, the Child's Vocabulary Test and the Language Skills Test. He has been conducting systemic therapy of patients with different disorders for years now, and has authored several monographs, mostly on the topic of stuttering. Recently he has published a book entitled Children With Behaviour, Emotion and Speech Disorders, and reviewed a textbook entitled Speech Pathology for print. His scientific research is inspired by his therapeutic experience. Professor Tarkowski supports the systemic approach to disorders as such as well as interdisciplinary studies, including their international aspects. His hobbies include travelling and agritourism, and he loves St Bernard dogs and common cats.