postr/StutterNovember 29, 2019

My speech block is getting much worse than before and it is affecting my work life

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My speech block is getting much worse than before and it is affecting my work life My first time posting here, and I am looking for the advice :) This is going to be a long post, so bear with me :) I (F32) have been struggling with stutter whole my life, and there were periods when it was quite difficult to go through the day, especially in high school. As I got older, my stutter reduced quite a lot, but it was suddenly replaced by a speech block. Talking with somebody on the phone took both mental and physical toll on me. I am a nurse by profession, so I had to talk with both patients and families a lot. Gradually, I become more confident, and I kept my stutter issues under control, and I even held some health seminars without any issues. But, I\`ve begun working in a new part-time job this year, and it is an online teaching school. Even though English is not my primary language, I passed interviews for online-based English school, and I\`ve been working there for 6 months now. In the beginning, everything went smoothly, I kept my stutter under control, and students were quite content. I was quite proud of the fact that my stutter/speech block was under control. But in the last few weeks, everything went downhill. My speech block is getting worse, a lot worse than before. In my daily life, I use 3 different languages, English is the one used most on some days, while I use others with my family or coworkers. And I have severe speech block in all three languages. My family notices change, and so does my friends. During lessons with my students, I\`ve begun teaching the Callan method ( if you are not familiar with that, it is a system of learning English where you repeat the question twice in a fast manner, and then students give an answer along with you). Well, the first week was great, I managed to do everything without a hitch and students were happy. But then, the speech block began. Not all words, just words beginning with letters like D, P, T, W, and the most horrible :L. Words like lessons, winter, pool, train, head etc are impossible to get out. And I don\`t block at the beginning of the question, but in the end, so the last word in the question is impossible to get out. I try to calm myself and breathe, but it is getting worse. So the whole point of the question gets lost because I just stop. It hurts physically to get the word out. And the worst is that when I start the question, I already know in my head that I am going to block. It is like my own brain is working against me. In the beginning, I told students that I have a cold and that my voice is not very good, but as the state got worse, I couldn\`t give that as an excuse anymore. Most of the students are my regular students and they don\`t seem to be bothered by that. Or maybe they are bothered but don\`t want to tell anything. But new students are not so happy. The other day, one of the students complained that I don\`t know to pronounce words and that I shouldn\`t be teaching. I tried to explain, but he was adamant, and I got a very bad grade from him. Today I got another bad grade because the speech block was present about 60 percent of the lesson. Some of the students cancelled other lessons with me after they noticed my speech block. When I have other types of lessons , it goes rather smoothly, but even there I\`ve noticed that speech block is more prevalent than before. I am trying to prepare before every lesson, trying to warm up my voice, relax, etc.but nothing is helping. I\`ve almost started crying during the lesson today. I fear that people think I am stupid because I cannot talk normally. I went to a speech therapist when I was a child, but today I made an appointment to talk with my doctor and get a referral to a speech expert. As I mentioned during my lessons with students , I do have to speak rather fast in the Callan method, so I suspect that to be a problem also. I think maybe that that type of lesson is not for me. ​ So, I am asking about advice that can give me temporary control over the speech block, any kind of technique that might be helpful. ​ TL:DR: Speech block has been getting worse lately, affecting both my private and work life. Especially my work life, as I have to speak with students a lot during the day. I hope to get some advice regarding the reduction of speech block.

Themes

Anticipation & AvoidanceCauses & VariabilityEmotional Experience

Subthemes

Anticipating StutteringFeared Words & NamesAvoidance & SubstitutionOverthinking & MonitoringPropositionality & WeightAnxiety & Social Judgment

Codes (2)

ordering_service_encountertelephone_video