Friday, July 09, 2010

Disastrous NSA key note speaker?

The choice and message of the key speaker, Sander Flaum, at the NSA conference seems extremely popular with informed people who stutter. He is the typical key note speaker, the type that the informed person who stutters hates. They never studied stuttering in depth nor do they have the intellectual and scientific ability to realize their limitations in understanding, they never worked with many different people who stutter or followed them over several years, they never attended other conferences but are parachuted in (mostly because the organizers hope to get them to give them money!), they all stutter relatively mildly or not at all, and finally talk about their glorious interpretation on stuttering even though they have no clue whatsoever.

Why don't they let people talk who know what they are talking? Or if you really want to roll in those "successful" people, tell them to talk about their experience and not their glorious interpretation!

Why don't we start a campaign that allows NSA members to VOTE WHO THEY WANT TO HAVE AS A KEY NOTE SPEAKER!

Check out StutterTalk's conference chat, and this reader's comment:
The Keynote Speaker for the NSA Convention basically said that every person who stutters can become completely ---100%--- fluent if they will commit to all the practice that is required. It is the fault of the PWS that they "FAIL" in therapy. Fluency Training is the CURE...JUST PRACTICE. EVERYONE WHO STUTTERS CAN BE FLUENT; YOU MUST PRACTICE THE TECHNIQUES.

FANTASTIC message for all the speech pathologists out there and the parents of CWS demanding that their CWS practice more in order to stop stuttering!!!

CRUSHING message for all of us who stutter who know that this is not true...

ABSOLTELY EVIL message for 1st time parents to hear...For kids who stutter to hear. Totally F***** UP!

What is the NSA Organization thinking as they choose Keynote Speakers???

I feel like making like Lebron and leaving this thing...

14 comments:

Norbert said...

You can't win them all. I recall at least two speakers at BSA Conferences who turned out to be rather, shall we say, 'challenging' for the audience in their lack of orthodoxy. Both had the good grace to stay for questions afterwards and in turn had their views challenged which can only be a Good Thing, surely?

Not sure why his views, if reported correctly, should be "crushing" for those who stutter, especially if they know it's not true?

Anonymous said...

Techniques can be helpful but are not a cure on their own. Any news on pagaclone???

Tom Weidig said...

So Norbert, how about the members voting who they want to have as a key speaker??

The issue is that those key note speakers project an authority that they simply do not have. It's fine for them to talk about their experiences, but once they start talking about the interpretation they mostly get it wrong.

Norbert said...

And how would members vote for keynote speakers? How would members know who'd make a good keynote speaker about stammering? And would that be all members? Or just those who have booked for the Conference?

"The issue is that those key note speakers project an authority"

I disagree. That's not their projection, that's your attitude towards them. If Mr Flaum was meant to come along and talk about his own experience of stammering then that doesn't have any more value or authority than anyone else's experience.

ig88sir said...
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Anonymous said...

It's hard to believe that he could possibly take anecdotal evidence from 1-2 cases as a general rule for all PWS.

As far as making like Lebron... It seemed that most people come to the conference to meet people that stutter and to hear certain researchers. I thought the conference as a whole was great. I loved seeing Drayna and I thought Our Time was outstanding.

Tom Weidig said...

Ig88sir. Could you please refrain from making such comments... Next time I delete it.

Satyendra said...

I wonder if this is a typically western phenomena: If there is a problem, there has to be a Technical solution to it. (And the solution must be the one I have found!) And people who dont use this or the other technical solution to fix their problem- there must be something wrong with them.. something morally wrong, like a character flaw... etc.
I think, along with DAF, Pogoclone, PFST, NLP etc. etc., space should be created for people to practice "Acceptance"- instead of being handed out mirage like "hope" of some or other technical panacea.. Associations should encourage PWS to talk about what they achieved with stammering, rather than what they achieved AFTER 'conquering' it..
Just my opinion..
From this perspective, people like Marty Zejer, will always be a beacon of inspiration to many..
sachin (TISA)

ig88sir said...

Sorry Tom! I was over the top.

BTW why does ASHA insist on Fluency Shaping techniques for adults, when Coastal Breathing has been much more successful?

Justin said...

I was at the conference, and you could tell that people were getting upset with Sander. I was sitting in the middle of the hall, here is how I saw it. I talked to a couple different people and they seen it a little differently, but we both had the same idea of what happened.

He came off as being very cocky, and he made several "off color" "old fashioned comments". Myself, being a 20 something white male didn't get offended but I could tell that MANY people were.

He commented that people who stutter are basically lazy, they just need to work harder on their speech to speak with fluency. He bragged about the Celebrities who have achieved fluency.

He started talking about a guy that worked for him, introducing him describing him as a "black man" when there was no need to say a race.

Then he went to the back of the room and an Asian woman asked a question about interviewing for a job. She had tons of education, but couldn't get a job because of her stutter.

He told the girl that because she is Asian, and she stutters, then she needs to work harder, and she needs to cross her legs like a lady because her legs weren't crossed. I was even embarrassed for the poor girl.

When a woman in the front row asked him a question, she was stuttering pretty badly. He embarrassed her by asking her if she was "using her techniques", and then talked down to her by asking her "why aren't you using them... Now breathe with me..". She was so embarrassed that she just said never mind.

There was one more story. A salesman of his had a bad stutter, he kept pitching the Hollins Institute, and how it works. He sent his salesman to the program, and he gained back a lot of fluency. He called Sander crying a few months later, and Sander said that he replied "Listen, I'm going to kill you if you don't fix this, go back for a refresher course at Hollins!

The guy was a great pitch man for his cause, and a great sales man, and probably a good CEO, but not a very inspiring person for the average stutterer.

Gerald Maguire was by far the best speaker of the event. He is a fantastic inspiration, and his work and research gives me tons of hope for the future.

Hearing him speak twice was worth the price of admission alone.

Justin said...
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Justin said...
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John Books said...

have had some interaction with Mr. Flanders both via e-mail and on the phone.

Mr. Flanders is a nice gentlemen but he seems confused about what is going on. I contacted him because I couldn't understand why he would be Chairman of the Board of the American Institute for Stuttering (AIS) yet he is a poster boy for the Hollins Communication Research Center and the Hollins stuttering program!!!

The founder of AIS was in a heated argument with Hollins many years ago about the advertised fluency success percentage for their Precision Fluency Shaping Program (PFSP). The AIS founder thought that the PFSP fluency reported success rates were not accurate. The AIS founder also worked for Hollins and was let go after Hollins found out she was not dispensing the PFSP correctly, The AIS founder took the Hollins program and modified it greatly and combined it with ideas and concepts from the Option Institute that she had taken many courses at. THe AIS founder had to change the name of the Hollins targets she retained in order to avoiid a lawsuit.

I asked Mr. Flanders if he knew that the AIS program was not the same as the Hollins program. He said they were the same but that the difference between Hollins and AIS is that AIS clients talk to other stutterers but they use the same techniques as the Hollins program. I told him he was mistaken that they are really two different programs and heabruptly ended the phone call. He said that he didn't volunteer to be Chairman of the Board at AIS but was "recruited".

Mt. Sanders seems to have a poor understanding of different stuttering therapies and would make a poor keynote speaker for NSA.

I have spoken with people who knew him when he was originally at Hollins taking programs and they said his speech problem was mild

Mr Flanders does not seem to understand that other people might have more of a problem with their speech than hiimself.

His statement at the NSA convention that people only need to practice seems to be a supporting statement for Hollins in that Ronald Webster says that people need to practice more.

I am surprised that NSA would allow him to make this statement since the only program that MIGHT have more success if one practices more IS the Hollins program since they give you very specific techniques for all kinds of sounds so more practice could mean more success.

Was Mr. Flander talking about the Hollins program or all programs? Was he talking about the AIS program?

Mr. Flanders is a nice man but he is very misguided in his opinions and his understanding of stuttering and therapies for it.

I can only hope he means well.

John Books said...

I have had some interaction with Mr. Flanders both via e-mail and on the phone.

Mr. Flanders seems confused about what is going on. I couldn't understand why he would be Chairman of the Board of the American Institute for Stuttering (AIS) yet he is a poster boy for the Hollins Communication Research Center and the Hollins stuttering program!!!

The founder of AIS was in a heated argument with Hollins many years ago about the advertised fluency success percentage for their Precision Fluency Shaping Program (PFSP). The AIS founder also worked for Hollins and was let go after Hollins found out she was not dispensing the PFSP correctly, The AIS founder took the Hollins program and modified it greatly and combined it with ideas and concepts from the Option Institute that she had taken many courses at.

I asked Mr. Flanders if he knew that the AIS program was not the same as the Hollins program. He said they were the same but that the difference between Hollins and AIS is that AIS clients talk to other stutterers but they use the same techniques as the Hollins program. I told him he was mistaken that they are really two different programs and he abruptly ended the phone call. He said that he didn't volunteer to be Chairman of the Board at AIS but was "recruited".

Mt. Sanders seems to have a poor understanding of different stuttering therapies and would make a poor keynote speaker for NSA.

I have spoken with people who knew him when he was originally at Hollins taking programs and they said his speech problem was mild

Mr Flanders does not seem to understand that other people might have more of a problem with their speech than hiimself.

His statement at the NSA convention that people only need to practice seems to be a supporting statement for Hollins in that Ronald Webster says that people need to practice more.

I am surprised that NSA would allow him to make this statement since the only program that MIGHT have more success if one practices more IS the Hollins program since they give you very specific techniques for all kinds of sounds so more practice could mean more success.

Was Mr. Flander talking about the Hollins program or all programs? Was he talking about the AIS program?

Mr. Flanders is a nice man but he is very misguided in his opinions and his understanding of stuttering and therapies for it.