A new beginning

[aneclato30]

I have finally decided to fight my stuttering, and have resolved to never take another backwards step. My strategy to do this follows.

Medical: I take a calcium and magnesium supplement once a day and a B complex supplement once a day. Both relax me and make me feel at ease.

Positive affirmation: I have made hypnosis tape on Mp3 using a programme called text aloud which converts text into speech. The programme has a very relaxing female voice. I use phrases like, i choose to be free from my stuttering, i choose to be confident when i speak, i choose to change my life for the better etc. I run this mp3 once a day for about 20 minutes.

Spiritual: I have downloaded an ebook on relaxation. I run the programme once a day at night before bed.

Subliminal: I have found a subliminal programme on google, its freeware. It runs subliminal messages of your choice in the background on your pc. While working i am thus trying to positively influence my mind.

I really believe that this four pronged approach will bear fruit in the long run, I already feel much better about myself as a person. Stuttering not as bad and even when i go through a rough patch it does not break my spirit like in the past.

Hope this helps give other forum members positive ideas to move forward.

[Count]

May I ask how bad your stutter is?

[Silent]

Thanks for sharing, and good luck!

I'm going to experiment with hypnosis myself. However, my hypnotic suggestions will be ed at decreasing the dopamine levels in the basal ganglia and internal anxiety signals from the limbic system rather than consciously controllable things such as relaxation and confidence. No one has ever tried such a direct approach with stuttering as far as I know.

[grantM]

May I ask how bad your stutter is?

Hard one to answer as it is all relative. I have met some stutterers with what I class as a very minor one who class themselves as severe. I have also experienced the reverse. I think you also have to factor in the personal life impact

[aneclato30]

I would describe it as moderate when i am relaxed and in control, but there are episodes when it can be severe. I am hoping this regimine will improve the moderate episodes and completely cut out the severe ones.

[John Woo]

I hope you will persist to carry out your plan until you cure yourself.
Resolve is no substitue for hard work. You have to work hard to develop skills in your speech. Good luck.

[agantx]

I have finally decided to fight my stuttering, and have resolved to never take another backwards step. My strategy to do this follows.

Medical: I take a calcium and magnesium supplement once a day and a B complex supplement once a day. Both relax me and make me feel at ease.

Positive affirmation: I have made hypnosis tape on Mp3 using a programme called text aloud which converts text into speech. The programme has a very relaxing female voice. I use phrases like, i choose to be free from my stuttering, i choose to be confident when i speak, i choose to change my life for the better etc. I run this mp3 once a day for about 20 minutes.

Spiritual: I have downloaded an ebook on relaxation. I run the programme once a day at night before bed.

Subliminal: I have found a subliminal programme on google, its freeware. It runs subliminal messages of your choice in the background on your pc. While working i am thus trying to positively influence my mind.

I really believe that this four pronged approach will bear fruit in the long run, I already feel much better about myself as a person. Stuttering not as bad and even when i go through a rough patch it does not break my spirit like in the past.

Hope this helps give other forum members positive ideas to move forward.

That's great that you finally started to work on overcoming your stuttering. All these methods will help you free yourself. But don't forget to also practice for one hour every day the speech rules/techniques. They are taking a full breath before speaking, easy onset, and the pull out rule. They will with time transform your stuttering into a controlled form. That means you will be able to directly control all of your blocks in all situations. Remember you don't need to go to a speech therapist to practice them. You can do it yourself at home for at least one hour each day. If you never heard about these rules, do research on the internet. Good luck and don't forget to practice. :)

PS: Speech therapy isn't a cure. It will only make you fluent in all situations most of the time. That means once in a while you will still have blocks. Also if you will forget to practice the rules, you will have a relapse and your stuttering will return...

[Silent]

PS: Speech therapy isn't a cure. It will only make you fluent in all situations most of the time. That means once in a while you will still have blocks. Also if you will forget to practice the rules, you will have a relapse and your stuttering will return...
I've been practicing for one hour each day for several years and it hasn't stopped my stutter from returning. My fluency ranges from 2% to 10%. But if you're mild you're more likely to succeed :)

[agantx]

I've been practicing for one hour each day for several years and it hasn't stopped my stutter from returning. My fluency ranges from 2% to 10%. But if you're mild you're more likely to succeed :)

Wow Silent. Your stuttering must be really severe if in worst cases you can only say 2 out of 100 words fluently with no blocks and in best cases you can say 10 out of 100 words fluently with no blocks. If this is true, then you have one of the most severe cases of stuttering in the world. Even my stuttering is not that severe most of the time. And believe me I'm a severe stutter.

Because of such severity, it must be really tough for you to communicate with people. I know how it feels since in the past many people didn't understand me and I talked very slowly. Even now because my stuttering isn't under control yet I talk slowly and have a lot of strong blocks on many words if not on almost every word. You must have it worse than me since your stuttering seems to be more severe than mine. But don't give up. There's hope in getting your stuttering under control. It doesn't mean that just because you stutter very severely that you can't get it under control just like severe, moderate and mild stutterers. Like them you can do it too. You just need to work a lot harder and for a longer period of time to get it under control than other people who stutter.

Since practicing for one hour a day isn't enough for you it seems, I suggest that if you have enough time, motivation and determination you should practice 5 hours a day at home if not more. Turn speech therapy into a full time job until you will begin to have major progress in controlling your stuttering. In other words practice day and night and you will have big results sooner or later. The rules I think will help you most are taking a full breath before speaking, easy onset and pull-out. If you want, you can also practice with family members or friends at home. This will be more effective since a person will be present. Good luck and never give up! I believe you can do it!
;)

[Silent]

Because of such severity, it must be really tough for you to communicate with people. I know how it feels since in the past many people didn't understand me and I talked very slowly. Even now because my stuttering isn't under control yet I talk slowly and have a lot of strong blocks on many words if not on almost every word. You must have it worse than me since your stuttering seems to be more severe than mine. But don't give up. There's hope in getting your stuttering under control. It doesn't mean that just because you stutter very severely that you can't get it under control just like severe, moderate and mild stutterers. Like them you can do it too. You just need to work a lot harder and for a longer period of time to get it under control than other people who stutter.

Since practicing for one hour a day isn't enough for you it seems, I suggest that if you have enough time, motivation and determination you should practice 5 hours a day at home if not more. Turn speech therapy into a full time job until you will begin to have major progress in controlling your stuttering. In other words practice day and night and you will have big results sooner or later. The rules I think will help you most are taking a full breath before speaking, easy onset and pull-out. If you want, you can also practice with family members or friends at home. This will be more effective since a person will be present.
Thanks for the advice, agantx :)

Verbal communication is non-existent for me. With such a severe stutter, I don't even try to start complex sentences as I know I won't be able to finish them, so I limit myself to very short sentences and single words like "yes" and "no". Even these don't often come out and I end up nodding my head. The only setting where I communicate long sentences are the stuttering support group meetings.

I do practice with my mom over . I'm afraid practicing more won't help, since I'm fluent doing those exercises using my fluency technique and it doesn't carry over the least bit to the outside world. If it's not helping, it may be because I'm doing something wrong, not because I'm not doing it enough. A friend of mine has practiced 8 hours a day and it didn't help him. I'm starting another intensive therapy course shortly, hopefully it will bring some improvement :)

[JDRow]

I cannot imagine many things I'd want to do less than practice speech techniques 5 hours a day.

[Silent]

I cannot imagine many things I'd want to do less than practice speech techniques 5 hours a day.
I practiced my techniques 3 hours a day for several months after my last therapy course. I wish I still had the time for that :(

[grantM]

I guess the thing is Silent is sometimes to practise smarter and not longer. Would not the secret be to always practise, or should I say that you should be trying to use what ever technique you have learnt all day? It should not be practise, it should be habit. I am struggling myself though with day long concentration on technique. I get caught up in daily actions and forget all about it at times.

[agantx]

I cannot imagine many things I'd want to do less than practice speech techniques 5 hours a day.

Working on your speech for 5 hours a day for several months is a very small price compared to a lifetime of complete freedom from your stuttering. Not all people who stutter are able to make this very small sacrifice for a couple of months. Not all of them have to anyway since practicing just one hour a day will usually make a big difference. :)

[agantx]

Thanks for the advice, agantx

Verbal communication is non-existent for me. With such a severe stutter, I don't even try to start complex sentences as I know I won't be able to finish them, so I limit myself to very short sentences and single words like "yes" and "no". Even these don't often come out and I end up nodding my head. The only setting where I communicate long sentences are the stuttering support group meetings.

You're welcome! I'm happy that you are going to stuttering support group meetings. They can be very helpful. I hope you don't have to pay for them and learning important things from them. ;)

With such severe stuttering I wonder if you have any friends outside the stuttering support group. If yes can you tell us how you managed to form these friendships? Do you use long complex sentences with your friends or stick to very short sentences and words like "yes" and "no"? If you are limited to very short sentences with even your friends can you tell us how these friendships manage to survive? Thanks in advance for any info and any advice. I'm sure this will help other severe stutters like me to form friendships with people and at the same time give us hope.

I do practice with my mom over . I'm afraid practicing more won't help, since I'm fluent doing those exercises using my fluency technique and it doesn't carry over the least bit to the outside world.

If you have friends, try practicing your speech exercises with them. I think you got used to practicing with your mother. That's why practicing with your friends will be a welcome challenge. ;)

When you are practicing, make sure that you're feeling very secure. You need to be 100% confident that you won't have any blocks when reading your speech exercises. When this will happen, this feeling will eventually transfer to your speech with people. First your family, relatives and close friends. After that this will begin to happen with new people. This is the only way you will be able to control your stuttering while talking to people. By the way what fluency technique are you using?

If it's not helping, it may be because I'm doing something wrong, not because I'm not doing it enough. A friend of mine has practiced 8 hours a day and it didn't help him. I'm starting another intensive therapy course shortly, hopefully it will bring some improvement.

You are right. Not only you have to work hard on your speech, but you also have to practice speech rules that specifically help you. Different speech rules or techniques help different people. For example one rule might help one person and not the other. It really depends on a person. That's why when practicing it's important for you to find out which rules are helping you as soon as possible. In speech therapy, speech therapists do the same. They try different techniques to see if they will work. By trial and error they select the ones that work. If you're not seeing a speech pathologist, you have to do the same at home.

I hope intensive speech therapy course will help you greatly Silent! Keep us updated about it and tell us how it's going when you have free time! :cool:

[agantx]

I guess the thing is Silent is sometimes to practise smarter and not longer. Would not the secret be to always practise, or should I say that you should be trying to use what ever technique you have learnt all day? It should not be practise, it should be habit. I am struggling myself though with day long concentration on technique. I get caught up in daily actions and forget all about it at times.

What you need is focus. Don't get caught up and excited in speaking situations. Always remember to use your speech rules when talking to people at all times no matter how hard it will get. When practicing them while reading your speech exercises, make sure to be 100% confident that you won't have any blocks. If you will do this, eventually your speech rules will turn into very strong habits. This means you will automatically use them without even thinking about using them or remembering to use them. In other words your speech will be fully automatic and very easy in complete contrast to your natural stuttering. :)

[TenaciousD]

Thanks for the advice, agantx :)
A friend of mine has practiced 8 hours a day and it didn't help him. :)

Hey Silent...... when you say your friend practiced around 8 hours a day and it didn't help ........ for how many days did your friend do this?............ I'm hoping that it wasn't for that many days......cause Ive found alot of encouragement in the idea that the human brain is in a sense plastic...... it can change and adapt etc as a response to repititive stimulus............ I was hoping that if a stutterer just practiced speaking (fluently) enough ( like 12 hours a day or so ) then our brains' would strengthen and permanently establish the neurological pathways that we're using when speaking fluently.
By practicing speaking fluently I just mean to speak alone to yourself....use speech techniques.....only talk to your dog:) .etc......whatever situations a stutterer can put themselves into in order to get out their words fluently....and then practice in that setting ( ALOT!!!!!!!!!!)

[Mike85]

Hey Silent...... when you say your friend practiced around 8 hours a day and it didn't help ........ for how many days did your friend do this?............ I'm hoping that it wasn't for that many days......cause Ive found alot of encouragement in the idea that the human brain is in a sense plastic...... it can change and adapt etc as a response to repititive stimulus............ I was hoping that if a stutterer just practiced speaking (fluently) enough ( like 12 hours a day or so ) then our brains' would strengthen and permanently establish the neurological pathways that we're using when speaking fluently.
By practicing speaking fluently I just mean to speak alone to yourself....use speech techniques.....only talk to your dog:) .etc......whatever situations a stutterer can put themselves into in order to get out their words fluently....and then practice in that setting ( ALOT!!!!!!!!!!)

I think it is like he said. If something doesn't work for you, you can practiced all you want but it won't work. Better put your energy in finding something that DOES work, then wasting all that time.

[chris2112]

I have tried to practice for 2 hour a day and everytime I was about to go into a speaking situation. I was much more fluent when I practiced, but when I actually go to talk to people my stutter is still there. I think that practicing helps but the only practice that can really help you is to make talking to other people your practice. Practicing desenitizing myself to talking to other people is the only practice that has really helped me.