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Description of  A New Approach to Stuttering: Diagnosis and Therapy (Speech and Language Disorders)

by Zbigniew Tarkowski (Editor) The author presents a new approach to the therapy of stuttering. Instead of accepting stuttering and trying to make it more fluent, he prefers to motivate a patient to effectively battle the condition. This book presents a theoretical basis for such an approach and offers diagnostic tools, including normalized and standardized scales as well as questionnaires for examining patients with stuttering in different age groups. While guest authors review research on the effects of pharmacotherapy, which is regarded as controversial by many, the author focuses on discussing the approach and achievements of Central and Eastern European therapists which have not been heard of in the USA and Western European countries. He supports systemic therapy which affects all the basic stuttering factors, i.e. speech disfluency, logophobia, muscle tension and interpersonal communication in a comprehensive way. Speech disfluency is not regarded as a problem, but merely as an obstacle on the way to accomplish a patients personal goals. The author presents particular methods for solving the problems of patients with stuttering and considers motivation to therapy important, though it is reduced due to the acceptance of the disorder. Although he supports using natural speech in the course of therapy, he does not reject other techniques. On the contrary, the author believes that therapeutic methods should be adjusted to the needs and abilities of a patient instead of forcing said patient to use a method simply because it is universal. The author believes therapies are subjective to the patient in question. Additionally, the author is optimistic and encourages both therapists and patients to share his optimism as well Book Review Professor Zbigniew Tarkowski has been researching and effectively treating stuttering for many years. Contrary to a popular nihilist approach, he refuses to accept stuttering and make it fluent. Instead, he believes in the idea of shaping motivation to therapy and applying effective methods of treatment. He supports a systems therapy aimed at problems faced by a patient or his/her social environment. The comprehensive therapeutic method applied by Tarkowski influences the four key parts of the structure of stuttering: speech disfluency, logophobia, muscle tension and readiness to communicate. Tarkowski values in-depth diagnosis embedded in therapy and offers a number of useful techniques to be applied every day. The book is a polemic which encourages one to review their beliefs and offers an optimistic perspective for the future. - Dr. Hab. Grayna Jastrzbowska, University of Opole, Opole, Poland In my opinion, the publication of A New Approach to Stuttering: Diagnosis and Therapy is a very good idea. Its systemic approach to persons who stutter will enrich the publishing marketing by providing a testimony of paradigmatic changes in logopaedic therapy and diagnosis of PWSs. The contents of the book are extremely valuable. - Ewa M. Skorek, Warsaw, Poland Series: Speech and Language Disorders