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• 10/24/2011 8:03 PM Anonymous wrote:
  I agree with everything you're saying, but you're leaving out the key issue that he had his hand up during lecture and he was not called on. I guess after that happened he just decided to switch classes and go around having to talk to the teacher. I don't think the email is really that relevant and her actions reveal here true intentions.
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  1. 10/25/2011 7:22 AM StutterTalk wrote:
     Anonymous,
     
     You bring up an interesting point. The hand up in class issue seems to be in dispute between Philip and his former professor. As the New York Times reporter said on StutterTalk last week, surprisingly little is in dispute between the professor and Philip.
     
     My concern was empathizing with each side. I can't expect adjunct professors to be experts on stuttering, how to be sensitive to people who stutter and how to best accommodate students who stutter. But I can expect that professors are open to sitting down and talking. It is easy for me to say, "The professor should have been sensitive." I have met people who have finished my sentences for me and they believe, at first, that this is sensitive because they enable me to move on with my thoughts. I have met people who stutter who appreciate listeners finishing their sentences because it gets them off the hook or out of a block. A good buddy of mine completed my sentences for me until I explained to him why it was not helpful for me. I think the real test would have been - what would have happened after Philip and the professor sat down and talked about these issues? But we will never know because Philip did not meet with the professor. As I said during this soapbox, is it discrimination or the beginning of a conversation?
     
     While the professor came across as very insensitive and uniformed, she also seemed open to working with Philip on this issue. If we don't talk to professors about stuttering when they ask us, how exactly do professors, universities and students work out accommodations?
     
     Let me give a different perspective here. I have been a public school speech-language pathologist for more than a decade. Today I will be testing 4-5 students in state wide assessments as I did yesterday. These students receive testing accommodations and these testing accommodations are in writing and numerous people review these accommodations leading up to testing. And we still have to sit down and discuss how to implement the accommodations.Yesterday, I had to convene a quick mini conference of several special education providers during testing to figure out an accommodation issue. Even when accommodations are in writing we have to discuss how to carry out accommodations in the most accurate, thoughtful, empathetic and sensitive manner.
     
     Thanks for sharing your thoughts,
     
     Peter Reitzes
     President and Host, StutterTalk
     
     
     
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