Stuttering
05-04-2004, 04:30 AM
Smoothening the stammer out
Express News Service
Chandigarh, April 18: SITTING in a small room at Manimajra, Dr Shamsher Soni encourages an assorted group of young and elderly to speak as much they can, but in a manner devised by him. The children stretch each word while pronouncing them and that sometimes, appears odd as well. ‘‘But that’s the way we build self-confidence among the children to treat the problem of stammering,’’ says Dr Soni.
Dr Soni’s journey began in 1964 when, as a young man, he discovered a person who used to stammer while talking but used to sing a song flawlessly. ‘‘That amused me. I decided to help him by devising a methodology for his treatment. I suggested him to stretch each word he spoke after inhaling a long breath of air. Gradually, he overcame his deficiency,’’ he adds. Since then Dr Soni has dedicated himself to the treatment of people who stammer. ‘‘Stammering is related to the psychology of the person. And it can be cured. The problem starts with hesitation,’’ he states. ‘‘The deficiency a stammerer has is that the moment he plans to speak anything, he starts thinking if he would be able to pronounce the word correctly. Then he starts looking for a substitute for the word. In this confusion, the moment he speaks out, the words fail to come out in the desired manner,’’ explains Dr Soni.
Many other problems can lead to this problem. It can be fear of parents or teachers, or it may just be shyness that ultimately develops into a stammer. ‘‘There is as such no medicine to treat stammering,’’ says Dr Soni. He says that during his practice, he found that 80 per cent people suffer from this problem because of illness-related weakness. In about 16 per cent, the problem starts by imitating stammerers, in two per cent cases, parents or the family is found to be very strict, he adds.
Neelam Sharma, one of Dr Soni’s patient, while corroborating certain facts about his theory, states that he always hesitated to talk to women. He used to forget what he wanted to say, he says. But with the speech therapy, I have been able to overcome this problem, he adds, with confidence.
Stammerers have more grey matter
Dr Soni has found that people who stammer are more intelligent. They think more. Majority of the students who come to him for treatment are either toppers in their classes or are doing very well professionally.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=82146
Express News Service
Chandigarh, April 18: SITTING in a small room at Manimajra, Dr Shamsher Soni encourages an assorted group of young and elderly to speak as much they can, but in a manner devised by him. The children stretch each word while pronouncing them and that sometimes, appears odd as well. ‘‘But that’s the way we build self-confidence among the children to treat the problem of stammering,’’ says Dr Soni.
Dr Soni’s journey began in 1964 when, as a young man, he discovered a person who used to stammer while talking but used to sing a song flawlessly. ‘‘That amused me. I decided to help him by devising a methodology for his treatment. I suggested him to stretch each word he spoke after inhaling a long breath of air. Gradually, he overcame his deficiency,’’ he adds. Since then Dr Soni has dedicated himself to the treatment of people who stammer. ‘‘Stammering is related to the psychology of the person. And it can be cured. The problem starts with hesitation,’’ he states. ‘‘The deficiency a stammerer has is that the moment he plans to speak anything, he starts thinking if he would be able to pronounce the word correctly. Then he starts looking for a substitute for the word. In this confusion, the moment he speaks out, the words fail to come out in the desired manner,’’ explains Dr Soni.
Many other problems can lead to this problem. It can be fear of parents or teachers, or it may just be shyness that ultimately develops into a stammer. ‘‘There is as such no medicine to treat stammering,’’ says Dr Soni. He says that during his practice, he found that 80 per cent people suffer from this problem because of illness-related weakness. In about 16 per cent, the problem starts by imitating stammerers, in two per cent cases, parents or the family is found to be very strict, he adds.
Neelam Sharma, one of Dr Soni’s patient, while corroborating certain facts about his theory, states that he always hesitated to talk to women. He used to forget what he wanted to say, he says. But with the speech therapy, I have been able to overcome this problem, he adds, with confidence.
Stammerers have more grey matter
Dr Soni has found that people who stammer are more intelligent. They think more. Majority of the students who come to him for treatment are either toppers in their classes or are doing very well professionally.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=82146