What can we change to improve stuttering? (only when we know this, we are able to accept the things we cannot change, change the things we can, and use the wisdom to know the difference)

What can we change to improve stuttering? (only when we know this, we are able to accept the things we cannot change, change the things we can, and use the wisdom to know the difference) **Question: What can (or can't) we change to improve stuttering?** Some say it can't be done, others say that it can be done. Both are right in their own way. Did you ever come across the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr? >*God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,* > >*the courage to change the things I can,* > >*and the wisdom to know the difference.* It’s been a guiding principle for me – throughout my journey to find strategies to outgrow stuttering as an adult. The great difficulty for people who stutter (PWS) is in developing “**the wisdom to know the difference**.” Many people who stutter (PWS) think that they can’t change anything because they believe “*it’s neurological*” and on the other hand there are some who believe you can change everything just by positive thinking and affirmations and that sort of thing. Much of my own work has involved trying to work out for myself exactly what I can change and exactly what I can’t. **I think this is work that each of us has to engage in for ourselves**. Because we differ so much in our capacities and in the extent to which those capacities are limited by underlying weaknesses. Much of the problems PWS experience stems from their acquired habit of relying too much on feedback and not having sufficient faith in their [feedforward control](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22research%22+%22stuttering%22+%22feedforward+control%22). Even if our feedforward control systems are sometimes a bit faulty, it is still better to rely on them than to resort to feedback control. All the same, feedback control can sometimes be used for speech regulation and need not be a problem. And would not be problem if only we could stop making negative value judgements about what we perceive. I argue that the biggest problem for PWS is the tendency to negatively evaluate their perceptions of their own speech performance. **Question:** **In your viewpoint, what can you change to improve stuttering and what can't you change?**