Can forgetting stuttering increase the change of stuttering recovery in young children? Research: "Stuttering can be accompanied by a feeling of not being able to move on" (Yaruss). Koichi (PhD)says that we have to let go the concept of controlling your speech, that is, you have to forget stuttering

Can forgetting stuttering increase the change of stuttering recovery in young children? Research: "Stuttering can be accompanied by a feeling of not being able to move on" (Yaruss). Koichi (PhD)says that we have to let go the concept of controlling your speech, that is, you have to forget stuttering [Yaruss](https://isad.live/breaking-the-word-in-the-middle/comment-page-1/) (PhD researcher) says that the feeling of not being able to move on can accompany stuttering. "*One idea that might help is to practice ‘staying in the moment’ of those stutters (first on your own, and then, as you get more comfortable, with other people)*", said Yaruss. [Koichi](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Koichi-Mori) (PhD) says: "*If you can speak to yourself fluently when no one is hearing you, the problem is that you try to consciously control your speech too hard in real time in the presence of others*." He seconds Gnars in this article: [https://isad.live/isad-2015/papers-presented-by-2015/research-therapy-and-support/rational-emotive-behavior-therapy-rebt-based-preferred-stuttering-recovery-process](https://isad.live/isad-2015/papers-presented-by-2015/research-therapy-and-support/rational-emotive-behavior-therapy-rebt-based-preferred-stuttering-recovery-process/). "*In the similar vein, you could benefit from treatments that do not directly aim at fluency as the primary treatment target (but could be a goal), like NLP by Bodenhamer* [*http://www.masteringstuttering.com*](http://www.masteringstuttering.com/)*, or some intensive trainings done at American Institute of Stuttering and Hausdorfer Institute for Natural Speech* [*http://www.hausdorfer.com*](http://www.hausdorfer.com/)", Koichi says. Koichi (PhD researcher) explains that speech requires more than a hundred of muscles working together and that there is no way you can control every one of them consciously in running speech. "*You have to let go the concept of controlling your speech if you really want to be fluent. That is,* ***you have to forget stuttering*** *if you want to be fluent.*" Koichi further mentions that we can practice slowly and consciously, but we cannot utter a word fluently with conscious control of articulation and respiration and vocal cords simultaneously. "*It’s just like walking or running: You probably do not try to control which leg should be in front now etc, though you could be aware that one of your leg is in front at a particular moment*", Koichi says. He recommends reading “[Speech is a river](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Speech+is+a+river%22+pdf)” by Ruth Mead, which may help us understand the paradoxical nature of stuttering and natural fluent speech. "*Fluent speech is how NOT to control articulation or breathing or voicing*", Koichi says. Bloodstein (PhD) has suggested that the basis for true recovery would be if “**stutterers could forget that they were stutterers**”. In response, Finn (PhD) ([1](https://www.reddit.com/r/Stutter/comments/15zsh9m/tips_to_improve_stuttering_from_the_research/), [2](https://www.reddit.com/r/Stutter/comments/161bj9m/tips_to_improve_stuttering_from_the_research/), [3](https://www.reddit.com/r/Stutter/comments/160i3yk/tips_to_improve_stuttering_from_the_research/)) replied to his comment: "*However, the results of our research may not be entirely consistent with this view because the recovered individuals who used to stutter - obviously had not literally forgotten that they used to stutter, but they certainly seemed to be moving in that direction*." In Finn's research, the people who recovered from stuttering appeared to be people who no longer thought of themselves as stutterers (a change of self-perception). They had all recovered between the ages of 15–22 years, with periods of recovery that ranged in duration from 13 to 68 years. A participant in his research mentioned: “*It’s hard to remember exactly what stuttering sounded like. I don’t think about it*”, pointing to the importance of forgetting about what stuttering sounded like or to stop visualizing what the experience of stuttering used to be like. The [author](https://www.reddit.com/r/Stutter/comments/1d02rol/tips_to_improve_stuttering_from_the_book_the/) (PhD researcher) of the book "**The perfect stutter**" had achieved stuttering remission for many years. Note, that when he moved to another country (from UK to Greece) - as he was learning a new language 'Greek', he began worrying about stuttering, "*What if my stuttering returns?*". After a few months of excessive reminiscing his old stuttering experience (the process of retrieving his old identity as a stutterer), he started stuttering again but in a much lighter form (after many years of complete fluency). [JustHumaneHuman](https://www.reddit.com/r/Stutter/comments/fcrluy/when_you_forget_that_you_stutter) says that his stuttering ranges from nonexistent to very severe. "*In my case it is genetic. During some periods of my life* ***I completely forgot that I stutter***. And with some people I actually don't stutter at all. But as soon as I remember it exist in my life, I begin to stutter again. It feels like a pressure in the middle of my chest sometimes\*", he says. Someone else replied to him and said that whenever he doesn't plan a conversation and forgets about stammering, that he speaks absolutely fluent and whenever he remembers that he has a stammer the blocks gets in the way. "*So, I think it's the subconscious mind that holds us back and keeps reminding us that we have a stammer*", he concludes. So, this leads to the main question. \---- **Question:** **Should we move in the direction of forgetting stuttering?** Why? What is the advantage of forgetting stuttering? Does it improve emotionally or reduce getting triggered? Reduce worry about stuttering or hyper-monitoring? Your thoughts? Does it reduce overthinking about stuttering, improve the way we look at our speech performance, or reduce an image of ourself stuttering? (or reduce this stutter identity or self-fullfilling prophecy). Your thoughts? Does it improve confidence or reduce anticipation? Can it result in focusing less on stuttering, but then, this can also result in working less on fluency, however, isn't that also helpful? (worrying less about fluency or becoming less sensitive / reactive to the feelings that lead us to anticipate stuttering). Your thoughts? Can it reduce catastrophizing how error-prone or hyper-sensitive we are? Can it reduce the need for interoception (which is the awareness of what’s going on inside our bodies) during stuttering? Can it lead to reducing the feeling that stuttering is wrong or that I need something to change like word substitution, and not asking myself too many open questions? (instead, I focus more on natural or effective speech, I copy listener's (say: non-stutterers) how they speak and empathize more with their speaking style?) Your thoughts?