Coping With Stuttering
by Peter Louw,
Delta Books, Johannesburg. ISBN 0908387725.

Convinced of the very complicated nature of stammering, I approached this book with some hesitancy, suspecting that it might be merely an eulogy to the methods of Dr Martin Schwartz - the gentleman who claimed in Stutter No More that anyone can stop stuttering. But Peter Louw, although allotting greater space to Dr Schwartz's Passive Airflow Technique than to any other more universally accepted type of therapy, is more realistic than his mentor. Peter claims to have benefited himself immensely from the doctor's methods, but does not pretend to be fluent and admits that is is very difficult to cure the adult stutterer.

One of Peter's reasons for writing this book was the inadequacy of the available facilities for stutterers in his native country, South Africa. He sees the existing speech therapy establishment there as being over-regulated and conservative in outlook, and he is anxious to promote a BSA-like organisation for South Africa.

Peter begins the book with his own story, and there follows chapters describing the history and possible causes of stuttering, and the problems of change. He proceeds to delve into many of the fringe areas that have an important impact on the stutterer such as Stress Control, Self-image, and Acceptance. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on assertiveness and positive thinking, and the one entitled "How Speech Sound are Formed" was the clearest explanation of the subject I have seen.

In conclusion, although I cannot subscribe to everything in this book, it does what it claims - provides in plain language a host of valuable information to anyone who withes to learn about stuttering. The reader needs to be aware, however, that the Schwartz technique itself is only one amongst many,and is not a form of therapy generally offered in Britain.

Reviewed by Dave Savery, Speech and Language Therapy Assistant, Bristol, in the Spring 1997 issue of 'Speaking Out'.

to list of reviewse