Encouragement and Advice for Fellow Stutterers

Encouragement and Advice for Fellow Stutterers Dear Fellow Stutterers: I have been reading some of your letters on this stuttering forum; they have affected me deeply so as someone who has stuttered all her life, I would like to offer some advice and some encouragement. I am probably old enough to be your mother so I have spent many years in the working world and have experienced much anxiety and pain about my stuttering. I am rare in that most stutterers are men. I also feel, based on my life experience, that this is a condition that is harder for men to deal with than women. I have not stuttered severely but it has been unpredictable enough, that I became a covert stutterer and a master of word substitution. When I read and speak with a prepared speech, I am fluent. In fact, I was class valedictorian in the 8th grade and won prizes for public speaking. Spontaneous speech has been my problem and it has restricted some of my ambitions until late in life when I learned how to manage my stutter more effectively. This is what I have learned that may be helpful to you: 1. In addition to your speech therapy, make sure you learn how to breathe through your body. Keeping the breath flowing is very helpful to your fluency. Yoga may help or some basic theatre acting classes that force you to speak from your diaphragm and not your throat. And cause your voice to resonate throughout your body. I believe you must engage your body to speak fluently. There are many tricks you can learn to keep your throat open when you speak, to increase your fluency. 2. After you do these physical exercises, read out loud every day slowly and then increase your pace. 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes before you go to bed. Choose a book you like but make sure the vocabulary is at a higher level than you would normally read. Focus on your breath and articulation. This has helped me tremendously – it gets you prepared for your day of interaction with people and give you courage to speak. Don’t forget to repeat the reading out loud before you go to bed. 3. When you are reading aloud – this may appear strange – hold the book in your left hand and with your right hand, pretend it’s a microphone and speak into it as you are reading. Holding your ‘microphone’ a few inches from your lips. This action will send an impulse to the left side of your brain, where your speech centre is. It may help strengthen it. This isn’t voodoo; I’m not a neuroscientist but have made films about the brain. Don’t skip this daily practice no matter what. 4. Practice tongue twisters for actors (find them on the internet!) which will exercise your tongue and jaw and will increase the precision of your speech. 5. If possible, find a toastmasters group for stutterers. This may be a very helpful place to practice where you are not judged. 6. Stuttering is generally a developmental disorder and it is believed that there is a timing problem in the brain. When you chant or sing or say something in rhythm, the timing is sorted out. It may be helpful as you read, to add a rhythm. 7. Drug Therapy: Stuttering has been often helped by certain drugs but it’s not a one-size fits all. There have been clinical trials. I would stay informed about these trials and ask your doctor or speech therapist whether you would qualify to take part. Dr. Gerry Maguire who is at the forefront of stuttering therapy , has appeared on the excellent podcast [https://stuttertalk.com/](https://stuttertalk.com/) to discuss these clinical trials. 8. Take advantage of the stuttering forums on-line. Many speech therapists and doctors are stutterers that have worked very hard on their speech. 9. Lastly, get your hearing checked in case you may have premature hearing loss. It runs in some families. In my case, it wasn’t clear until late in my life that my life-long poor hearing was making my stutter worse. 10. Do not despair. Easy to say but keep in mind that worrying and being depressed is just a waste of time. I've wasted a lot of time being depressed because I was missing out on career opportunities. Be smart and take advantage of resources out there. You have the advantage of living in a time where a lot of help is available. Generations before you were not so lucky. Coraggio! As the Italians say “have courage!” and I wish you all great improvement in your speech and much success.