Body Movements and Stuttering

[Gary1450]

Do any of you have any habits when you stutter such as jerking your head a little or maybe shuffleling your feet when your standing up and talking to someone?

[Asif]

Oh yes!
I used to jerk around like a demented demon.
It was uncontrollable, and even though it did not help my speech, it became an unconscious habit.
Foot tapping, leg twitching, eye-blinking...
Stop!!!
Open your eyes and calm yourself.
Take all the time you need.
Take a sloooooooow deeeeeeeep breath.
Take another...
Get your life back :)
Asif.

[Gary1450]

The breathing helps tremendously.

I was at my college cafeteria the other day trying to order something and I was feeling extra anxious that day.

I had a hard time saying what I wanted (as usual) and sort shuffled my feet a little. She smirked and looked at the customer behind me for a reaction.

I was so pissed I could have slapped the living crap out of her. But my anger causes more stuttering and she didn't know what was wrong with me anyway.

[Asif]

Anger is our biggest enemy. At least, it has always been mine.
I am an Aries: Alpha Male, genetically aggressive and the type to take control when I have to.
But I have this little problem: I stutter!
For many years, I would try to deal with people in a reasonable way, but of course was unable to, and was quite unable to hold my own in any confrontation or argument.
I would usually end up attacking whoever it was I was confronting. And I mean physically!
Nothing gets respect like a good smack in the mouth.
This - obviously - is not a good way to go.
Nobody knows what our problem is, unless they know us fairly well, and unless we take this into account, we will always be at a big disadvantage.
We have to try harder than other people: we have to become more forgiving.
So what if someone smirks at our apparently crazy antics?
We must try to become indulgent of these fools.
Forgive them their lack of sensitivity.
Yes it's difficult. But necessary.
I've become very different in my latter years: I still feel like most people are ignorant fools, but I can now stop myself from reacting with hostility to their lack of understanding.
We want to be "normal", but we can't be.
We have to accept our condition and stop feeling so sorry for ourselves. We must become comfortable with being "not normal"
Like any handicap: stuttering is a barricade set down in front of us. We can only try to deal patiently with it and make the best of our lives.
Asif.

[Gary1450]

I talk better on the phone when I'm standng up - because I can "lean" into those difficult words.

Although - I know I need to stop these tricks and work on slowing down.

[sacha]

I talk better on the phone when I'm standng up - because I can "lean" into those difficult words.

Although - I know I need to stop these tricks and work on slowing down.


yeah speaking on the phone, i have to walk if possible!! or concertrate on something other than speaking, like touching stuff around me..

[llw03c]

sometimes i'd squeeze my toes inside my shoes so no one would see. or if i'm sitting around a table i'd tap my feet in some rythym so i'd ease into the word and calm my vocal cords so i could get the word out. all this is preceded by some slower breathing or something like that. sometimes i'd just look away and pretend like i'm thinking...you just have to do whatever to get the word out.. :cool:

[sacha]

sometimes i'd squeeze my toes inside my shoes so no one would see. or if i'm sitting around a table i'd tap my feet in some rythym so i'd ease into the word and calm my vocal cords so i could get the word out. all this is preceded by some slower breathing or something like that. sometimes i'd just look away and pretend like i'm thinking...you just have to do whatever to get the word out.. :cool:


exactly like me....<3

[Tess]

Oh yes!
I used to jerk around like a demented demon.
It was uncontrollable, and even though it did not help my speech, it became an unconscious habit.
Foot tapping, leg twitching, eye-blinking...
Stop!!!
Open your eyes and calm yourself.
Take all the time you need.
Take a sloooooooow deeeeeeeep breath.
Take another...
Get your life back :)
Asif.
I have the exactly same thing! Especially the leg twitching and eye-blinking, I just can't stop the eye-blinking. But you're right, taking a deep breath and calming yourself really helps. :)
And like sacha says, I also look away and pretend like I'm thinking. I haven't done that very often lately, but I remember a million times being in such a situation. Pretending like I'm thinking and on tesame time trying to get the word out, ánd also thinking if I could substitute the word with another word, just to escape and save myself out of the situation. Stutterers have all these tricks - and no one has a clue. My parents didn't really knew about my stutter for a long time, they thought I already overcomed it :rolleyes: I must've been very good at hiding my stutter at that point :p But I'm working now to don't use those tricks anymore, cause they seem good for the moment, but not for a long-time period (->your whole life)..

[Asif]

yeeeessssss.............
I still tend to close my eyes without realising it when I'm trying to speak.
I work at noticing whatever it is I do, trying to become more aware of it.
But my speech is probably 90% fluent now. As opposed to 0.5% when I was young.
One of the very few good things about ageing is that people tend to overlook your weirdness :)
I get to say and do things that would probably have got me arrested as a younger man.
Attaining fluency - for some - is a lifelong career.
Asif.

[JustKeisha]

i'd tap my feet in some rythym


That is the one thing I do, out of all of the things ppl say, I tap my feet into a rhythm, and when Im ready, I say the word on a beat lol, its weird, but it works man lol ...Im trying to say words without tappin, Im gettin there

[Flash]

I do a lot of eye blinks and a lot more facial stuff too! I hate it when people mock those things right in front of me.....that really pisses me off big time. :mad:

Sometimes I close my eyes before speaking and even keep them closed during speaking. Sometimes keeping them closed during speaking helps because i'm not doing those ugly eye blinks.

A couple of you guys mentioned how when talking on the phone, you walk around. Oh man....i'm probably one of the worst. :rolleyes: At home, if no one is looking, I walk around like crazy if I'm not talking to a really close family member. Sometimes I even jump or run around lol. :o Kinda does help actually. :p Of course, if people are looking, then I don't do it or else they would think I'm crazy or something.

[happy7117]

The breathing helps tremendously.

I was at my college cafeteria the other day trying to order something and I was feeling extra anxious that day.

I had a hard time saying what I wanted (as usual) and sort shuffled my feet a little. She smirked and looked at the customer behind me for a reaction.

I was so pissed I could have slapped the living crap out of her. But my anger causes more stuttering and she didn't know what was wrong with me anyway.

Should of slapped her..!! I would of screamed at her!!

[JustKeisha]

Was also wondering if anyone bites their toungue
it's rather painful, it's like when Im tryin to get the word out, and Im trying to so hard, Im bitin down on my tongue some how! that fustrates me alot

[happy7117]

Was also wondering if anyone bites their toungue
it's rather painful, it's like when Im tryin to get the word out, and Im trying to so hard, Im bitin down on my tongue some how! that fustrates me alot


I don't remember ever biting my tongue-which
i don't think i did...

This is a following true story- but when
I was in second grade I vagualy remember me
getting stuck on a word so bad- I started
snapping my fingers very hard, and I actualy cut my finger and was bleeding sort of from snapping so hard as a way to release the word-- I guess the harder
I struggled the harder I snapped-- therefore I had
to go the nurses and get a band-aid...

[happy7117]

When I was young -(I mean 7 yrs old when
i first started stuttering)-- my parents remember this but I don't...!!!

I would get stuck on a word, and claw at my leg--
I can't explain it -- my fingers would be all outstretched and I would be voilently scratching my
leg-- and i would have these facial grimaces...
that's as best as I can explain it-- but it was
something extremely freaky, and I vagualy remember it...

Oh yeah--- back in 5th grade--- I went to a dreaded
SPELLING BEE!! Indeed I was the best in my fifth grade school at the written spelling test-- and I had to compete againt other 5th-8th grade kids from my own school and schools in the district...

I was obviously petrified of stuttering throughout
the words, and in fact they would probably
think I misspelled a word cause I stuttered on it...

Indeed i stuttererd not badly but some minor
tenseness on the words- and the audience was extra quiet when i was up.. took me like a minute or so---
when all the others took maybe the usual few seconds... I got through 4 rounds-----
actually I probably could have gotten a lot farther--
The word I lost on was "Collapse".. I spelled
it "c-o-l-l-a-s-p-e"- I think I was so nervous
about stuttering I spelled it wrong-- therefore indeed lost...

So I probably could of spelled that word right and moved on, but because of nervouses of stuttering
I spelled it wrong....

A terrible way to lose a spelling contest-- from nervousness over stuttering!!!

If I did not stutter- I probably could have been
a finalist....

I did score a %100 on the written spelling test
in class to go the oral spelling contest
at my middle school....

OH yeah-- also wanted to do Drama Club badly in high school... i did not want to do it because of the fact I could not sing- but that was not the real reason-- that was a cop-out.. the real reason
was my stuttering was holding me back....

Those memories make me more and more pissed as I write this..(excuse that dirty word)

[Gary1450]

That's what sucks. If I didn't stutter I could have done so many things, met so many people.

Although my life is good now, I know I'm not going to live much longer because the anxiety of stuttering has put so much stress on my body and general health that I'm sure I've done damage to my heart by now.

[happy7117]

Or one could have a nervous breakdown from years of intense stuttering... I'm surprised I have not had one...

[claragazza]

Body movements associated to my stutter are one of the most difficult aspects to live with for me. It is particuliarly difficult for a girl.
In practice, I blink my eyes a lot, move my jaw, and also make hands movement to "accompany" my stutter. I hate this, but I still have the feeling that the hand movements help me to pronounce the words.

[happy7117]

I thought hand movements and eye blinks
were symptoms of Tourette's??

When I was like 6 or 7 and started stuttering-
I would grap my thigh and slap it, and I had no
idea that it was because of my struggle to talk.


But I did not know what Torettes was at that age, and at that age I realy did not know how bad stuttering could get...at that age I could of had
Tourettes and not even know it..

I don't undersatnd though how facial ticks and
eye blinking could be related to stuttering--

At that age I had facial blinks and grimaces too
but I realy did not know why my bad talking was causing it...

[Standingtall]

I tend to close my eyes and use my hand as a wind up motion to get started or bust my way through the block. When on the phone, I tend to do the whole dance and song. I had a few more through the years, as one fails and another one starts working. Today, I still do the eye close thing, but mostly to stop, pause, calm down and start again.

[Dman]

most of the time I find myself tapping my foot on the floor or my hand on my knee as I find getting into some sort of rythm allows me to speak, a word for every tap, very odd but it does work unless I have extremely bad days, like today, grrrr... lol

[happy7117]

I wonder if all these physical things we do when we stutter has got us into dancing--

They both have to do with self expression--
and they both require good rhytm to work----..

This was not meant to be seen as a funny post--
which it might to some,because physical movements when stuttering are not fun to look at-- but it's sort of an analogy....

Stuttering or rather fluent speech like tap
dancing- it requires certain rhythm coordination,
and timing to work right-- and without them you
can't do either of each!!

[Asif]

Body movements don't help at all, although they become a huge habit.
About the only positive lesson I learned from myriad speech therapy sessions was that if one consciously forces oneself to not move, and to maintain eye contact, then stuttering is improved.
Even now I tend to close my eyes when trying to speak, and it's so counter-productive it's laughable.
I don't know why I still do it, apart from the fact that it has become such an unconscious thing, I often don't realise I am doing it.

[claragazza]

Body movements don't help at all, although they become a huge habit.


I think it is a bit more complicated that this. At least for me some body movements do not help, but others do help.
Generally speaking, the one I cannot help doing (like twitching, blinking my eyes) do not help me. It think they are more a result of the anxiety of the stuttering.
But the circling with my hand, which I do voluntarily (at least more voluntarily) does help me.

[Standingtall]

Body movements may not help at all with your stutter, but I think it is a release for the energy you have built up. I don't know how many times, I felt like ducking when some people I know, talk and move their hands around. I feel like I'm going to get smacked and then the gloves will come off. Maybe making a face, closing your eyes or raise a foot is a bit extreme. The other may person think you are about to attack them. People that do the pen clicking thing drives me crazy.