commentr/StutterMay 16, 2024

Content

People like this usually just package strategies that "worked" for themselves into a nice looking program - then they market it to other people who stutter as if everybody's stuttering will respond the same way to the same strategies. This neglects the fact that stuttering looks and feels very different for all of us, among other things. For some people, fluency does increase by using strategies, but in many, many cases only when strategies are consistently and consciously employed. This is cognitively demanding/exhausting and ends up being a net negative for a lot of people. This isn't to say that stuttering won't necessarily decrease naturally if someone increases their confidence. But focusing on reduced stuttering as a primary goal is unlikely to yield positive outcomes. People who sell these things may have good intentions but I'd be pretty wary of them, as they may also/instead be motivated by monetary gain. On the other hand I can certainly understand hesitancy with speech therapy as well given the misconceptions speech therapists have had about stuttering over the years. I'm a PWS & SLP and am trying to change those tides :) Check out this YouTube channel for some neat stories from PWS who have overcome frustration and struggle in communicating: [https://www.youtube.com/@OpenStutter](https://www.youtube.com/@OpenStutter)

Themes

Therapy & ProfessionalIdentity & Disability

Subthemes

Therapy ExperiencesMedicalization / Neurodiversity