I have just come across this article from the Oxford Disfluency Conference 2002:
http://www.theoryofstammering.com/Sims.pdf
Monday, April 28, 2008
Management problem?
It was a commonplace, when being left-handed was deemed to be bad for you, that children who were made to write with their right hand stammered. Not all of course.
How does this fit with my theories?
Well, I think that trying to manage too much is the big issue for PWS and that this mostly applies to how PWS think about what is important about other people. So I don't have a problem with it.
I came across a paper earlier today which described a child who stammered badly in two languages http://fla.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/12/36/255. The child stopped stammering when the second language was dropped.
Trying to do too much at one time or more than is required is one of the biggest problems we have in getting things done well. How the child was thinking at the time is what interests me.
I mentioned in an earlier post that when writing is extraordinarily important my hand stammers. Eh? I hear you say. When I am signing a passport application form for someone and the signature has to be legible and be contained within a box and if I get it wrong the form will be sent back and it will delay their processing and it will be my fault and they have left the application late - all of this is happening at the same time in my mind - not sequentially. I have to step back mentally and and carefully attend to altering my normal scrawl which I have difficulty reading at times.
So to mentally step back and ask ourselves 'What else do I need to know?' before launching could be a start in managing how we deal with situations or people.
How does this fit with my theories?
Well, I think that trying to manage too much is the big issue for PWS and that this mostly applies to how PWS think about what is important about other people. So I don't have a problem with it.
I came across a paper earlier today which described a child who stammered badly in two languages http://fla.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/12/36/255. The child stopped stammering when the second language was dropped.
Trying to do too much at one time or more than is required is one of the biggest problems we have in getting things done well. How the child was thinking at the time is what interests me.
I mentioned in an earlier post that when writing is extraordinarily important my hand stammers. Eh? I hear you say. When I am signing a passport application form for someone and the signature has to be legible and be contained within a box and if I get it wrong the form will be sent back and it will delay their processing and it will be my fault and they have left the application late - all of this is happening at the same time in my mind - not sequentially. I have to step back mentally and and carefully attend to altering my normal scrawl which I have difficulty reading at times.
So to mentally step back and ask ourselves 'What else do I need to know?' before launching could be a start in managing how we deal with situations or people.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Brain research
Norbert ( see links ) writes on 14 April:
'I heard about this research on the radio today - researchers in Berlin have found that our brains have already made up our minds for us well in advance of our own, conscious decision-making. A bit scary in many respects.
What’s the impact this has on stammering? Do we already know in advance when we are going to speak and what we are going to say, without being consciously aware of it? Can our brains adjust - in this unconscious knowledge - and anticipate where we will have problems, build up anticipatory struggle and launch into a full-blown block by the time we are consciously aware of having made the decision to speak?'
Well, where is your walking as you sit here reading this? or your writing, or your speaking? or your memory of your last holiday?
Sounds daft eh?
But that is what this kind of research illustrates: the immanence for our behaviours is there but only apparent when we act them out.
The more I work with PWS the more I am certain that in the majority of cases speaking isn't the problem. How the PWS sees himself in relation to others and sometimes to himself is the issue. And, importantly, that view is prior to stammering and completely separate from it. It is at the level of beliefs or identity.
Mind emerges from brain; mind isn't brain.
'I heard about this research on the radio today - researchers in Berlin have found that our brains have already made up our minds for us well in advance of our own, conscious decision-making. A bit scary in many respects.
What’s the impact this has on stammering? Do we already know in advance when we are going to speak and what we are going to say, without being consciously aware of it? Can our brains adjust - in this unconscious knowledge - and anticipate where we will have problems, build up anticipatory struggle and launch into a full-blown block by the time we are consciously aware of having made the decision to speak?'
Well, where is your walking as you sit here reading this? or your writing, or your speaking? or your memory of your last holiday?
Sounds daft eh?
But that is what this kind of research illustrates: the immanence for our behaviours is there but only apparent when we act them out.
The more I work with PWS the more I am certain that in the majority of cases speaking isn't the problem. How the PWS sees himself in relation to others and sometimes to himself is the issue. And, importantly, that view is prior to stammering and completely separate from it. It is at the level of beliefs or identity.
Mind emerges from brain; mind isn't brain.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Measuring
Standards are about measuring ourselves against our values.
Some PWS measure themselves against an ideal in relation to other people.
Some PWS measure themselves against the perfect speech with no erms... or ehs.... or ahs.....
Some PWS measure themselves against some perfection they see in others that they will never measure up to
Some PWS measure themselves against how they think others see them
All of the above are not useful and most other people are getting on with their lives and don't even notice the folk around them.
In a shopping mall sit and watch other people - no one notices strangers - they don't matter unless they come into contact.
If you catch someone's eye for too long it may be taken as a threat or a come-on!! so look away or smile depending on your inclinations. You will notice their reaction anyway.
Do you notice or care about other people in a Mall the way you think they notice and care about you?
If you think they notice you an know anything about you what is your evidence?
Some PWS measure themselves against an ideal in relation to other people.
Some PWS measure themselves against the perfect speech with no erms... or ehs.... or ahs.....
Some PWS measure themselves against some perfection they see in others that they will never measure up to
Some PWS measure themselves against how they think others see them
All of the above are not useful and most other people are getting on with their lives and don't even notice the folk around them.
In a shopping mall sit and watch other people - no one notices strangers - they don't matter unless they come into contact.
If you catch someone's eye for too long it may be taken as a threat or a come-on!! so look away or smile depending on your inclinations. You will notice their reaction anyway.
Do you notice or care about other people in a Mall the way you think they notice and care about you?
If you think they notice you an know anything about you what is your evidence?
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