commentr/StutterMarch 26, 2023

Content

>Hi man, I have seen you here a lot lately. I think that the advice you give here is great and really helps people to improve their lives. Thank you and keep it up, we need more people like you! Thank you! >Just would like to ask you about your case (if you don’t mind). How bad was your stutter in the beginning and how much did you improve it? I was a severe stutterer. In stuttering group therapies I was the person with the most severe stuttering. Often one syllable like 'yes' took me one minute to say. For example, if I wanted to say 'no', then I would say 'nnnn' because my tongue (or other speech muscles) wasn't moving to the next sound. In other words, during a block I didn't move my speech muscles. I was not able to 'choose' to move the speech muscles, like most PWS. Currently I stutter very lightly and I am able to 'choose' to move my tongue, jaw, lips, respiratory or laryngual muscles during a speech block. My ultimate goal is to completely outgrow (or recover from) stuttering as an adult. Currently, if I speak to someone and I stutter, then I can immediately tell 'why' I stopped moving speech muscles and with trial and error I adjust it. In my experience this has led me to control the decision (to move speech muscles) more and more. So, I strongly believe that if I keep up with what I'm currently doing like: * learning to not care about speech blocks * observing *(but not specifically immersing or engaging in a discussion about)* anticipatory or intrusive thoughts and feelings * normalizing fluency (*instead of perceiving stuttering as bad and fluency as good*), and * prioritizing fluency over sensory feedback , then in my opinion it could lead to outgrowing stuttering. I know that a lot of other *people who stutter* focus on needing: (1) speech techniques, (2) confidence and (3) reducing anxiety, but I believe that this will only make outgrowing stuttering that much harder. I believe that there are 100s of ways to break the stutter cycle and outgrow stuttering, so I urge to try all the strategies instead of only trying out one and see for yourself which path leads to subconsciously outgrowing stuttering.

Themes

Causes & VariabilityCoping & AdvocacyIdentity & Disability

Subthemes

Severity & FluctuationFluency TechniquesAcceptance & Pride