THESIS 1 UPDATERay Mancini | Prof. Tom Klinkowstein

PROBLEM/HYPOTHESISMany modern speech therapies have deficiencies, and no single technique works for everyone suffering from disfluency. More often, speech therapists emphasize physiological behaviors and techniques, while not fully confronting or understanding a stutterer’s mental anxieties and personal experiences.

In contrast to current stuttering approaches, which often set unrealistic expectations of perfection, strict guidelines, or focus on only one area for improvement, design thinking examines a problem holistically and promotes experimentation.

Using design thinking’s human-centered observation, prototyping, and constant refinement, a robust system of speech disfluency evaluation and experimentation could be created to facilitate self-improvement and augment existing therapy.

RESEARCH OUTLINE

1: Introduction

1. State that I am a stutterer

2. Define Stuttering

3. Use statistics to show it is a significant problem

4. Discuss speech therapy in general

• no miracle cure, many methods/schools of thought, room for improvement

5. Mention a bit about design thinking

• the ways designers think in order to solve a problem

6. State the problem

7. State the hypothesis

2: Stuttering and Speech Therapy

1. Three main types of Stuttering (repetition, prolongation, blocking)

2. How stuttering is generally evaluated

3. Stuttering Therapies and Treatment approaches in-depth

• General Categories (DAF, Fluency shaping, stuttering modification, • Notable Therapies and approaches• Limitations/critiques of specific and overall therapies/approaches

4. Therapy statistics (effectiveness, satisfaction, therapy vs. no therapy)

5. Stuttering and Society

• Cultural and social relevance• Myths and stigmas that work against stutterers

Notes:• Add in personal vignettes• Incorporate research from interviews & discussions with stutterers and therapists

3: Design Thinking

1. Define Design Thinking

2. Show an example from the design world that users may understand

3. Show that designers and stutterers have similar “issues” or variables that affect how they operate or achieve success.

• Possible Example: John Harrison’s Hexagon & T-Shaped Persons

• “Stuttering can be more accurately understood as a system involving the entire person” - John Harrison

4: A new system based on design thinking

Define the basic idea of my new “system”

“I am not creating a new system of therapy. I am creating a method/system of evaluation, experimentation, and discussion to help stutterers bring new insight to their stuttering (and to themselves) in an exploratory, incremental way. Only YOU (the stutter) really know every variable and nuance of how your stutter and its effects. This new system will allow you to discover these observable variables and use these insights to achieve your own goals.” Through a new example, show how design thinking is the basis for this new system, and how it would apply to stuttering.

Roger Martin: Designer’s Personal Knowledge System (Stances, Tools, and Experiences)Values validity and exploration. Rather than perpetuate the past, designer creates the future.

4a: How the system could operate

1. Personal Stance/BeliefsBe aware of your own decisions, and inquire about the beliefs and assumptions behind them. Be ready to embrace the complexity that comes with evaluating your stuttering.

“Why am I afraid of the phone? Do I just dismiss it without reason, or is there something I can work on there?”

2a. ObservationObserving subjects in action. For stuttering, video taping and posting situations (like phone calls) enables immediate evaluation of my stuttering, as well as getting analysis from others. Look for patterns/insight.

2b. ImaginationBased on the video taping, make an inference to why you are behaving certain ways (abductive reasoning). This can’t be proved in advanced, only through exploration. You are asking if this may be true.

“Do I make calls better after I exercise for 10 minutes? It seems like it...”

4b: How the system could operate

2c. Test this inference.Create a prototype/experiment and test your “hunch”. If necessary, refine it each time as you begin to observe patterns. Can it be refined more?

2d. ConfigurationMake the results of your inference into a repeatable activity that works for you, as well as fitting into your current therapy or treatment.

3. ExperiencesMaster your tools, but don’t lose sight of originality in approaching new problems. While you continue to practice your speech techniques, and may master them within the confines of certain situations, you should be prepared to try new situations out and expand your knowledge base.

“I speak incredibly well when ordering from this familiar restaurant, but I really should try an unfamiliar one sometime and see what happens.”

5: Conclusion

Create a conclusive ending, as well as greater aspirations for future implementation.

John HarrisonHarrison is a copywriter, scriptwriter, and a writer of corporate trainings and books. He is also a gifted speaker, speechwriter and presentation coach, as well as a “former” stutterer.

He wrote a 600-page book about it:REDEFINING STUTTERING: What the struggle to speak is really all about

“You need a supportive environment where you can practice, experiment, totally let go, and trust your inner self without fear of penalty.”

According to John Harrison' s Hexagon, stuttering is the by-product of six Hexagon points: physiological responses, behaviors, beliefs, emotions, beliefs, perceptions and intentions. Changing these elements of the Hexagon will lead Changing these elements of the Hexagon will lead us automatically away from stuttering.”

Harrison runs public speaking workshops through his “Speaking Freely” organization in San Francisco, where individuals pay to practice their public speaking skills with each other, using observation and refinement. Also describes how to do this at home with your own groups. He has outlined specific steps to accomplish this. He doesn’t believe in traditional therapy, and doesn’t feel you should identify as a stutterer. Many stutterers find it controversial (feels like self-help program).