>*"Can speech therapy help with stuttering or am I doomed?"* In my opinion: Most people who stutter (PWS) may do speech blocks because the [release threshold](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22stuttering%22+%22release+threshold%22) is too high. Fluency-shaping and stuttering-modification may not help completely, but I argue that they can reduce this release threshold partially: * if you really believe the technique works, then it lowers the release threshold, especially when reducing speech rate * techniques like prolonging, connecting and smooth-inducing could lead you to perceive the communication task (even on a feared word) easier, and therefore lowers the release threshold * all the techniques could work as an avoidance mechanism to distract yourself from anxiety, and anticipation, lowering the release threshold * putting in a lot of effort, struggle behaviors and tension may lead you to perceive the communication task as difficult, raising the execution threshold. Clinical intervention: so, applying easy onset (to reduce effort, struggle or tension) may therefore lower the execution threshold - but only of those three components affect your individual "release threshold" * stuttering modification such as voluntary stuttering - desensitizes you to feared words/situations, lowering the execution threshold - but only if this specific fear initially raised your execution threshold * the stuttering modification technique 'cancellation' whereby we pause after a stutter - could work like a brain reset getting us out of the anxiety loop/state - lowering the execution threshold - but again, only if this specific anxiety affects your individual threshold This is just my take on it. I am a person who stutters, I've worked on reducing this execution threshold on my own stuttering, and in my current stutter phase I'm trying to remove reliance on the execution threshold altogether. Positive effect could then be that I don't need to lower the execution threshold anymore, for example, then I can fear stuttering and tense as much as possible, but by not relying on this threshold, it won't result in speech blocks. Hope this makes any sense. If you have any questions, ask away and I'd be happy to elaborate it further