TISA has been getting inquiries as to which therapist should one consult?

TISA is more about self help. Secondly, few therapist would be open to sharing their clinical data with us for review. So, we have not done any objective study of efficacy of any particular approach or therapist. Yes, we do encourage IPWS to share their therapy experinces in SHG and on our website, to help others. But these are only opinions of one individual.So here is what we recommend:

1. People who can afford, must go to a therapist; Only thing, as a consumer they should know their rights and duties; Also they should be more aware of stammering and its therapy in general. Their are plenty of good websites for this.

2  They must find out whether the therapist specializes on Fluency disorders or not. Not every speech therapist may specialise in Fluency disorders (technical name for stammering and similar disorders). A general speech therapist may be good for "mis-articulation" but not good enough for Stammering.

3. Find out what services and follow up is he offering for the fee charged (is fee justified for the effort and time he is putting in?). A rough figure: Rs 100 per hour session is charged by many state sponsored services.
4. What kind of guarantees is he offering explicitly or implicitly? Is he promising a "cure"?
5. What would be the role & responsibility of client in therapy (how many hours a day? what kind of schedule etc.? )

6. What does therapist believe the cause of stammering to be and how will his therapy deal with that? A therapist who sincerely believes that stammering is caused by lack of confidence or just because of poor breathing, may not succeed.

7. Find out about his affiliations: is he a member of "The Indian Speech and Hearing Association" or any such recognised professional body?

8. Get the contact details of some of his clients and talk to them.

Having done this homework, you should go WHOLE-HEARTEDLY into the program and STICK to its requirements.. and if the therapist agrees, participate in TISA SHGs for free..

Now, few more thoughts on this:

Stammering is a complex phenomena. Almost every approach benefits some one- but not ALL; In our experience, one young junior engineer benefited from blowing conch-shell ! What will help you- no one can predict. An approach which is holistic - combines many approaches (attitude, breathing, speech-techniques, body language, self-concept, acceptance etc.) has more chances of succeeding. Your common sense is the best friend you have. What is known well enough now is that there is no magic, universal, fast "cure" for stammering. So anyone assuring you of a "cure" for ever is misleading you. (Do a search for 'cure' in the search box at top right hand and see some of the documents) Such advertisements have been around for a long time- and will be around for quite some time. Finally, if you think you have been dealt with un-professionally or un-ethically, do use your right to protest at the concerned professional body or in a consumer court. And write to us.