ABSTRACT
It is sometimes hard when called upon to explain to a lay person about the types of disorders we see in speech language therapy clinics and exactly what it is that speech language therapists and speech language pathologists actually do. People generally know that a carpenter works with wood; a lawyer deals in settling legal issues; a heart surgeon operates on hearts. Even with professions allied to medicine, many people have some basic understanding of some roles and may have a reasonable idea, for example, as to what a physiotherapist does. But within our more abstract field, our role still remains comparatively unknown and poorly understood. For some (usually older) people, we may still be seen simply as elocutionists, but even those who appreciate that we deal with physical disability, such as “helping people with sore throats to speak”, may be unaware that we also deal with more abstract matters, such as language comprehension and psychological profiling. Despite this, there is one area within our profession which provides a notable exception to our comparative obscurity. Mention the word “stuttering” and the lay person’s face lights up with instant recognition. In some cases, there follows an enthusiastic monologue of their experiences with people they know or have known who stutter. Alongside this, it also seems that a substantial number have the answer to the nature of the disorder, and/or how it can be cured. “It’s all to do with his nerves”, . . . or “she doesn’t think enough before she speaks”, or “If Tom just takes a deep breath before he speaks/ drinks two pints of beer/ then he doesn’t have any problems at all.”
