George H. Shames

Stuttering: An RFP for a cultural perspective

Abstract Stuttering has been the target of much attention from theorists and researchers as well as from clinicians. As a result, a large body of literature exists about its etiology, psychologic and physical properties, patterns of occurence, measurement, and evaluation and management. In the United States, the overwhelming majority of data come from experiences with stutterers who are in the majority of mainstream America. Much of these data could vary across cultures and across languages. For minority group stutterers who live in diverse cultural and linguistic environments, there may be different burdens and stress that need to be addressed. Their data could be quite complex and at variance with what we know and do about stuttering in majority groups. High rates of clinical failures among minority group stutterers raise questions about whether we have overgeneralized our information to groups that have never been studied.

The effects of time-out on the fluency of stutterers in group therapy

Abstract The effects of time-out from positive reinforcement were investigated in a group therapy situation. Subjects were 10 male stutterers. The specific contingency tested was permitting each member of the group to talk until he stuttered. With this contingency in effect, the amount of time that elapsed as well as the number of words uttered before the first stuttered word increased significantly. Clinical implications and an evaluation of the technique for general application are discussed.