tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12602489.post4668774294298464582..comments2024-03-24T15:07:18.773+01:00Comments on The Stuttering Brain: Responding to a reader's commentTom Weidighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02084153394215001999noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12602489.post-55802758897821577092009-02-28T05:03:00.000+01:002009-02-28T05:03:00.000+01:00James,You asked: "what was Susan Block's reaction?...James,<BR/><BR/>You asked: "what was Susan Block's reaction?"<BR/><BR/>As we know, the Maguire program addresses some of the behavioural issues associated with stuttering. For example, stutterers generally speak very quickly without pauses - particularly in difficult speaking situations. This is natural because they want to get to the end of the sentence as soon as possible, before the stutter hits them. Maguire encourages using pauses and slow speech. <BR/>Stutterers also tend to avoid speaking and try to hide their stutters. To address this issue, Maguire teaches "voluntary stuttering" on non-feared words. <BR/>Maguire also teaches a costal breathing fluency technique to allow stutterers to get a good level of fluency ... a kind of Valsalva release.<BR/><BR/>I wanted to discuss this with Susan Block a few years ago. She is usually a very nice and gentle person, but as soon as I raised the topic of Maguire with her, she became highly agitated. She said things like, "they seem to get good results, but they have not provided any academic data so it is not a reputable treatment". Of the costal breathing technique, she said, "such forceful breathing might cause a problem with the articulators". She also said that Maguire was more like a "religious cult movement". I had intended to have to have an enlightening discussion with an expert but instead all I got was the defensiveness of a pre-Copernican obscurantist (to quote a former Australian prime minister).<BR/><BR/>GeorgeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12602489.post-29030241434767531812009-02-26T20:48:00.000+01:002009-02-26T20:48:00.000+01:00@JamesPlease try:http://thestutteringbrain.blogspo...@James<BR/><BR/>Please try:<BR/>http://thestutteringbrain.blogspot.com/search?q=Maguire<BR/><BR/>XavAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12602489.post-39662783027951695942009-02-26T05:51:00.000+01:002009-02-26T05:51:00.000+01:00what was Susan Block's reaction? Tom-can you comme...what was Susan Block's reaction? <BR/><BR/>Tom-can you comment on the McGuire programme....no attention from SLPs. Scared?<BR/><BR/>Why no research on McGuire programme? (Tom, why don't you do it)<BR/><BR/>JamesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12602489.post-34841801760399956612009-02-26T03:49:00.000+01:002009-02-26T03:49:00.000+01:00These days, we have the internet, which should enc...These days, we have the internet, which should encourage the free flow of information, so the results of any scientific research should be made available to everybody. This is the case in many fields - for example, in mathematics and physics there is a free database (arxiv.org) where scientists pre-publish their papers. Why are stuttering "researchers" withholding information from the internet public? What do they have to hide? It reminds me of the dark ages when the clergy were the sole custodians of knowledge. Are they afraid that the public knows more than they do? <BR/><BR/>Some very important scientific discoveries have been made by independent researchers. Einstein was an independent researcher when he shocked the world with special relativity; Grigori Perelman was offered the lucrative Fields medal in 2006 for his contributions to Riemannian geometry (he turned down the award even though he lived in poverty); Garrett Lisi, an unemployed surfer-dude, came up with some important "theory of everything" - an alternative to string theory; Jim Lovelock came up with the Gaia hypothesis (and lots of other stuff)... With the free flow of information on the internet, there should be more discoveries by independent researchers - but stuttering "researchers" don't want this because it would erode their authority when, in reality, they are emperors without clothes. One only has to hear Susan Block's reaction to the emergence of the Maguire technique in Australia ... totally irrational.<BR/><BR/>Ed Feuer - I've heard of him; he sounds like a good man.<BR/><BR/>GeorgeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12602489.post-39637660913655854192009-02-25T00:08:00.000+01:002009-02-25T00:08:00.000+01:00Hi James,actually I agree with you that my blog go...Hi James,<BR/><BR/>actually I agree with you that my blog got a bit worse. It is just that I do not have the time to think more carefully about stuttering and do background reading. Therefore I have the tendency to respond to instances where argumentation is flawed, because it is less time consuming!<BR/><BR/>Of course, you are welcome to improve the blog with good comments!<BR/><BR/><BR/>Best wishes,<BR/>TomTom Weidighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02084153394215001999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12602489.post-87701183724363727402009-02-24T22:59:00.000+01:002009-02-24T22:59:00.000+01:00Ed Feuer has been doing this every year at ISAD. T...Ed Feuer has been doing this every year at ISAD. <BR/><BR/>There is a lot of crap on the Internet....<BR/><BR/>I feel the blog has gotten progressively worse recently. But still good read...I give it a C grade. There are A blogs out there, just not related to stuttering.<BR/><BR/>JamesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12602489.post-16634931318364982992009-02-24T15:46:00.000+01:002009-02-24T15:46:00.000+01:00Tom,Some of this sounds a lot like a similiar argu...Tom,<BR/><BR/>Some of this sounds a lot like a similiar argument a Mr Feuer was trying to make at last Fall's ISAD conference, where stated his concerns that some professionals only tell parts of the story, research, explanation, or whatever.<BR/>I agree that consumers need to be aware of everything that they read or hear may be a matter of opinion and not fact. Its good that there are people willing to go out on a limb, and pose difficult questions.Pammhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12772532131283968312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12602489.post-3387804753794071732009-02-24T14:44:00.000+01:002009-02-24T14:44:00.000+01:00Tom -Stay at it. I don't agree with you all the ti...Tom -<BR/><BR/>Stay at it. I don't agree with you all the time, but you have the right to question and comment as much as you want, how you want. Right or wrong, you seem to be sincere, which is commendable.<BR/><BR/>The professionals have brought this on themselves. The field is in the state it is because of them. <BR/><BR/>Self help groups need to be more outspoken for the needs of the individual members, not the professional groups agenda's.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12602489.post-5630811099980271892009-02-24T13:52:00.000+01:002009-02-24T13:52:00.000+01:00Dear TomI coordinate The Indian Stammering Associa...Dear Tom<BR/>I coordinate The Indian Stammering Association (TISA). I have been following your blog. You are asking right questions- on behalf of stuttering community. Experts, clinicians, reserachers are not above human weakness- like financial interests- and therefore they should be open to critique like anyone else..<BR/>You are on the right track. Keep at it.<BR/>I find your comments objcetive and based in sincere inquiry..<BR/>Thanks<BR/>sachinSatyendrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03829552345809055365noreply@blogger.com