What has helped me the most over the years
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What has helped me the most over the years Hey everybody. I'm a 42yo and have stuttered for as long as I remember. When I was younger it absolutely controlled me and affected my relationships, personality, career choice, etc. But I've reached the point where I would say I'm fluent "most of the time" and when I stutter it's more of an annoyance. I've tried a lot of things over the years and here is what has helped me the most. First, I had to get to the point where I could talk fluently when alone (either reading or talking out loud to myself). When I was younger (early 20s) I would stutter even when alone. In speech therapy I learned that if I can say a single word fluently (I could) then I could read/speak fluently. With practice I learned to read and speak "one word at a time" fluently. To be clear, to speak fluently means speaking effortlessly. You just stay one word then say the next word, etc. You don't have to think about the mechanics. Don't think about moving your lips, breathing, etc, you just talk. Once I was able to speak fluently when alone, then I would talk fluently to myself as much as I could. This is key. I used to read to myself for 20-30 minutes a day, as long as I could stay fluent. Or I would talk to myself when driving in the car (practice telling a long joke, telling a story, or explaining something). Then, when speaking to others I try to use the same type of fluent speech as I have when alone. Sometimes I pretend that I'm talking to myself and the other person is not there. Sometimes it works to just try to recall what fluent speech "feels like". Sometimes nothing works and I find myself blocking so I limit my talking if possible until I feel fluent again. At this point in my life I see myself as in "maintenance mode". I'll go long stretches where I'm mostly fluent, or if I do block I can stop, slow down, etc to get back on track. But I do still sometimes slip back into bad speech patterns and I have to repeat the "reading/speaking fluently to myself" practice until I get my fluency back. Hope this is helpful to somebody. Feel free to post comments or message me if you have specific questions.