Sunday, December 13, 2009

Crackpot Award for StutteringInnovations





The Stuttering Brain awards the team of StutteringInnovations , especially the founder Michael Mills, for the outrageous and completely unproven claim that:
Stuttering is now defined as a 'panic attack' over speech that starts in early childhood. Stuttering does not respond well to fluency training because the person already knows how to be fluent.
Here are a few questions for our brainy crackpots:
  • Who defined stuttering like this? And based on which arguments?
  • How does genetics fit in here?
  • What about brain imaging work showing differences in young kids and adults?
  • So singing and choral reading does not trigger a panic attack?

5 comments:

Satyendra said...

Yess- these guys deserve this award and more- Again selling a course to be used in the home!

Adrian said...

Tom, thanks for this one. I had a discussion with one of the founders of this program on one of the online discussion groups and his ignorance was truly disturbing. What is even more disturbing is that 'Stuttering Inovations' began as a therapy for kids! It is bad enough for these crackpots to involve themselves with adults, but far worse for them to do so with children.

moose2079 said...

Hi there,
I think this is an instance of a disgusting slander on a great organisation by very subjective people who are not interested in objective facts. What proof is there for the Stuttering Innovations claim you ask? - well the objective fact that people that stutter are fluent alone in a room - ie they can say any of their so called feared words when speaking out loud alone in a room - but when socially attempting to speak they stutter - Why the social disfluency? They are fluent alone in a room so fluency training is not appropriate. Why do they block socially? Well blocking is a known symptom of panic - eg stick a gun in someone's face and they stop breathing - ie block. So of all the claims out there about stuttering - this one is not based on subjective expert opinion, it is based upon an observable (and repeatable) objective fact. The people in Stuttering Innovations that you have slandered are some of the greatest, most intelligent and caring people I have ever met - take a look at the U-tube footage of parents and trainers to get an idea of the kind of people you attack out of obvious ignorance
Regards Michael Mills One of the Founders of Stuttering Innovations

moose2079 said...

Alos Re your questions:
Who defined stuttering like this? And based on which arguments?
>> Based on an objectively observable fact - people who stutter do not block when speaking out loud alone in a room

How does genetics fit in here?
>> social panic and fear is not genetic it is created by value systems - i.e. it is learnt

What about brain imaging work showing differences in young kids and adults?
>> I am aware that the child and adult brains are different - your point being?

So singing and choral reading does not trigger a panic attack?
>> Choral reading has no social risk as you are not the focus - going solo means your are the focus which can create the perception of social risk (depending on your learned value system) - hence the blocking when not speaking in a chorus with others - re singing - the panic was mistakenly attached to a spoken word in childhood (when the panic was in fact caused by a learned value system) - but that said - re singing - all people sing great in a chorus when there is little focus on them - but when going solo I have seen great singers that 'choke' under stage fright - ie they block due to stage fright - ie panic.... ... and finally reagrding my old 'Ad hominem abusive' "friend" ..... regarding the children we have trained - we train the parents in overcoming their own social fears so they can mentor their own child - we have a 20 year old trainer who attended our first course in 2001 when he was 11 years old - he now runs a factory - please limit your critism to the facts - the fact is that speaking out loud alone in a room stutters do not block (ie do not have a chest freezer) - please explain this objective fact


Michael Mills
SI Co Founder

moose2079 said...

Re Tom Weidig:
Tom your are being cowardly in labelling people you do not know - and without any facts disputing the premise the Stuttering Innovations is propounding.
I can call people all the names in the world - it does not address the objective fact of situational fluency - ie stutterers do not block when speaking out loud alone in a room - that is an objective fact - it is true for all the thousands of people who stutter that I have come into contact with - and it is true for all the fluent speakers who, when asked to give a public speech, panic (ie alone in a room they can give a great speech - but when giving the same speech infront of people they panic and block) - why is it so? and why is it that shy people can be really extroverted and tell great jokes alone in a room but when they arrive at the party they panic, block and avoid - why is it so? Are you seeing a common thread here - or are you blinded by your subjective expert beliefs - Alone in a room fluent - explain it in other terms apart from social panic - that is your challenge - if you have the courage for it - or are you going to revert to your evasions of attacking the person rather than debating the concept
Regards
Michael Mills
SI Founder