commentr/StutterJanuary 3, 2019

Content

The first thing I would recommend is not to continue bad habits. Unfortunately, bad habits include most of the tricks we do consciously or unconsciously to try and get out of stutterers. This includes using interjection (ummm, uhhhh, etc...) before difficult sounds to get them out. Any other *non normal* speech things you find yourself doing will often eventually stop working and you'll be stuck with an ingrained bad habit that can take a long time to undo. What I would suggest is, find someone or somewhere where you feel comfortable with and see if you can allow yourself to stutter. What I mean by this is, most of the time we come across a stutter, we do everything in our power not to. If you are able to find a safe person or comfortable situation, see if once or twice a day you can have a very short conversation (very short) in which your main focus is to let the natural stutters come up and be ok with them. When they come, see if you can stay on the sound without backing up and see if you can conintue to stutter through the word. Sometimes the particular stutter may be too difficult to let yourself stutter on or move through, in those cases I would recommend you to practice tolerating the stuttering and showing yourself you can tolerate it and it doesn't have tk be the worst thing in the world. This will train your nervous system to be less reactive. I'd like to know what kind of stuff you do with your speech therapist, because finding a good one is one of the most important things you can do. And unfortunately there are not a lot that really get it. If you two mostly focus on technique and trying to stutter less, that sends up a red flag.

Themes

Anticipation & AvoidanceCoping & AdvocacyTherapy & Professional

Subthemes

Avoidance & SubstitutionVoluntary Stuttering & ExposureTherapy Experiences