My Solution to Stuttering

[tyty101]

Hey what's up guys my name is Tyler and I'm currently attending college at the University of Chicago. I've been "stuttering" ever since I was in 5th grade, or at least from what I could remember. I think I've stumbled upon a very effective solution to ease stuttering which can be employed without much conscious effort.

Although I haven't been to any formal speech therapy (probably due to the combination of lack of time, embarrassment, denial, and $$), I've read extensively on some of the techniques that have been proposed by speech pathologists, such as fluency shaping, hypnosis, medication, etc. Basically, they teach you the proper mechanisms of how to speak and how your muscles should move and your breaths are proper, etc. This does indeed produce fluent speech if used all the time, but as we all know is not really feasible under most conditions where we interact with other people because of the habitual stress we are under. Other methods have dealt with more of the psychological and mental process behind stuttering, such as dealing with your fears and nervousness or trying to undercover some repressed memory underlying stuttering. In my opinion that would be effective in easing one's stuttering, but it takes a lot of effort to desensitize ourselves during these situations to become completely free of nervousness or apprehension. Another method that people use is to talk slowly and to focus on each individual syllable, which is a lot like fluency shaping and totally works but the downside is that your speech is too slow for normal standards and when you try and speed it up you end up stuttering all over again. I'm not an expert on any of these methods I mentioned and they could all work for all I know if you put enough effort into it, but they didn't do much for me.

Now, if you want to learn my solution to stuttering, please send a check for $59.99 to me.

Haha just kidding we've all suffered enough

Anyways, the "method" that I found that really reduces stuttering is what I'll refer to as rhythm management. Basically, when we talk "fluently", we don't really think of our speech as having a particular beat to it, but we view it as continuous speech that speeds up and slows down however we want it to. On the other hand, when we sing, we definitely notice the beat of the lyrics that are in place, and this beat is familiar with us since we know what to expect from the song. Therefore, when a person sings, we don't really stutter since 1) Singing has easily observable beats that we recognize and anticipate 2)Singing promotes a continuous breath with a lack of emphasis on proper consonant production which makes it easier to connect vowel sounds (kinda similar to slurred speech, which is probably one of the ways alcohol makes us speak better) 3) Nothing we sing is really important in the practical sense so we're not nervous when we sing.

Upon further inspection, after watching hours of television listening to new reporters speak, I realized that fluent speech, empirically, is actually made up of observable beats as well, if you slow it down a little and listen to it. However, it doesn't sound like rhythmed speech because the person talking fluently is able to speak different portions of the fluent speech at different speeds on command with whatever intonation they want. I realized that what we think of as "stuttering" is basically us messing up this intrinsic beat mechanism that's part of language production because of our fear of the word that is produced which throws our beat off track. This is coupled with our automatic response to lock up our muscles, which is even worse because our minds are forced to focus on the lockup itself and not on the beat production, which essentially throws everything out of wack. In response, our minds naturally wants to "catch up" to the beat, so the words after the stuttered syllable is rushed out and not on beat anymore, forcing us to readjust our beat in order to produce fluent speech again or else be faced with more stuttering if the beats not fixed. This is basically my representation of stuttering. It applies for all types of blocks, whether its the silent blocks, glottis blocks, plosive blocks, elongations, etc -- all of them are result of an underlying cause of an out of wack beat management.

So, my solution to stuttering is simple -- just re-establish your beat mechanism! Talk with a clear, conspicuous and slower beat, just as if you are doing by singing. Although the method is simple, the practice of it is more difficult because 1) You're still nervous and feel rushed2) You might still stutter 3) It doesn't sound like normal speech sometimes 4) You forget to utilize it at the moment. The biggest obstacle for this utilization for me is #4, because I keep having the tendency to revert back to my old speech pattern with the blocks and forget to establish a slower beat for the harder words. Also, this method may not sound exactly like the fluent speech you hear on TV because it is slower and more accentuated. You may think that you sound monotone and boring and slow. Well, first of all, stop giving too much shit about what other people think about you. Secondly, with more practice, you will be able to use a faster beat as well that you can vary the speed and intonation of at different portions of the sentence, which makes it pretty much indistinguishable from what you would call fluent speech. You can also eventually vary it up, making the speech more staccato or legato whichever way you like it. However, don't rush yourself, it's best to start practicing with a slower beat before moving up in speed and variation, or else you might make yourself sad for not being immediately able to create "fluent speech". This rhythm manage method isn't a magic bullet approach, it takes time and practice, but it works if works right

The big thing I like about this method is that it doesn't take as much forceful conscious control that the other methods, like fluency shaping or stuttering modifications, forces you to do. I mean, to do those, you need to conceptually focus on your vocal cords and maps and think about every movement you make. Sure, it works, but c'mon, you can't be thinking about your freaking mouth & throat for the rest of your life when you want to talk. This rhythm management solution also takes some conscious effort, but it feels a lot less forced and seems to ease into your autonomic behavior after some practice. I mean, we naturally think of beats when we talk and sing, but we don't naturally create a conceptualized image of our mouth every time we talk. Its good to talk with a slower beat, and keep the pressure low when possible. I'm not a speech pathologist, so I don't know how the muscles all exactly work and stuff. However, focusing on the macro approach to speaking proved to be a much more effective solution to producing more fluent speech in a practical setting

As for me, this is working pretty well for me. The only time I when I get too excited and talk to fast and revert back to my old ways and throw myself off beat on hard words, or when I'm extremely nervous that I momentarily convince myself this method doesn't work and start speaking my old ways. I'm pretty stupid sometimes lol. Often the nervousness stems from perceived time allowance, where you think you must say certain words in a smaller time frame than you actually have, which again leads to you getting offbeat and causes disfluencies. I recommend some meditation to try and slow down time perception. Don't rely on any of those medications or anything to help you speak. We all have the proper mental and physical mechanisms for speech, we just need to use it right

Anyways, that's just my 2 cents on solving stuttering. Feel free to share your criticisms of the things I said above or share your own thoughts on the method. I'll try to answer any other questions that you have

peace out, and sry for the spelling errors

[tyty101]

i might have not made myself entirely clear on how to utilize this method so if you guys have any more detailed questions just ask

[maxamillion]

You have some very interesting points and I agree with you. While reading your post, it reminded me of another topic I read awhile ago. One of our members bought a metronome ear device which basically fits in your ear like a bluetooth and it plays a rhythmic tone. He spoke at the same speed or rhythm as this device and he had great success with it.

So people wanting to try your method this might be something that could help them establish their beat mechanism.

Here's a link to this device, its called a Korg MM-1 MetroGnome, musicians use it to stay at the same pace while singing or playing instruments.

http://www.amazon.com/Korg-MetroGnome-Smallest-Digital-Metronome/dp/B000U37WMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments&qid=1251311678&sr=8-1

[maxamillion]

Good post, I agree with you.
Your method of re-establishing your beat mechanism makes sense to me!

I remember a post that someone made awhile ago about a metronome device that you stick in your ear like a bluetooth and it plays a rhythmic tone. Musicans use it to stay on beat.
This device may greatly aid people in finding their beat or staying at the same pace.
Its called a Korg MM-1 MetroGnome,
I just ordered one, its worth a try!

[tyty101]

Hey, so I read my previous explanation of the method and found it a little lacking. If you read it already, you might already think "yeah no duh, i tried this before and it didn't work, it's too simple" etc. Well, truth is, I thought the solution to stuttering had to something to with rhythm as well, but I too brushed it off because I didn't have the right mindset and overview to utilize the method correctly. I'll try and clarify the method here some more so you can get into the correct mindset if you choose to experiment with this method.

1. Speak as fast as you can. Say all the hard words, make the blocks harder that they are, get extremely frustrated and really make your throat feel the pressure. Do this for like a minute

2. Read a poem. I recommend Soliture, by Ella Wilcox, it really pushes the point across. Read it with ease, slowly, with lots of cadence. Read it the way a real poet would and make it sound as pretty as possible. Don't make it sound lame like a stutter would, but really say it eloquently. Abide to the natural pauses of the verse and don't try and force anything

At this point, you should feel the natural rhythm of the poem. You'll see that in order to make it sound good, there's a natural rhythm to it. Your mind can feel the rhythm, so chances are you won't be stuttering or be doing very little stuttering. Notice the difference between this speech and step 1

At this point, notice that even though you aren't singing, yet you aren't stuttering on the poetry. It's because although the poem is spoken in written words, its syntax creates an accentuated rhythm that isn't as prominent in regular fluent speech

Notice at this point the speed you read the words. Depending on how you break the poem down, you will find that you read different portions of the poem with different speed. However, within each section, you'll see that the words come out at a steady beat. The beat varies from section to section, but each section has its own beat. You'll find that naturally, when reading the poem, you don't rush the words, but you'll find that the words naturally abide to the beat that you have established in your head.

3. Now, its time to apply these principles to normal speech. Establish a slow beat in your head. In a monotonous voice, while following the beat, say the hardest sentence you know out loud. Don't build up pressure, don't use any other speaking techniques, just speak normally while focusing solely on the beat. Keep the spacing between the words constant.

An important point i'd like to bring up at this point is to NOT focus on each syllable at a time. I know other common therapies tell you how to deal with stucked or problem syllables you have when they arise, or how to prevent them, etc. What you need to do here is to focus solely on the rhythm. Don't focus on the syllable itself, focus on the beat of the rhythm. The sound production will always naturally follow, no matter how tensed up your vocal cords are. However, you MUST focusing on maintaining the same speed right now, or else you'll be inclined to rush. Say each word with conviction right on beat

If you feel a block, that means your off beat. You'll see this is true because if you try and fight through the block, the syllables following the block will come out way too fast, which means you got off beat. You need to PRACTICE to get this reflex out of your mind, and this rhythm management method is what I found personally to be the easiest.

4. When you get better at this, you should start practicing using different intonations of your syllables so it doesn't sound monotonous. Eventually, with practice, you should be able to speed up the beat of different sections and slow down the beat of different sections to make the speech sound normal. Just reread the poem the right way to see how you can alter your voice following the beat method.

5. A big obstacle you can encounter is talking too fast. You'll see that sometimes, with things you are familiar with, you will be talking so fast with so much intonation and confidence that you won't be able to find the beat in your voice. However, by talking like this, you'll eventually run into a trouble word and struggle all over again. Therefore, you need to change how you speak. Never speak too fast that you aren't able to find the beat, even on the easier sections. Always find the beat when you speak. Don't think too much about talking too slowly to begin with, eventually you can speed up to a certain point where you can talk almost normally yet still recognize your beat. Speaking too fast is like running with a busted leg. You might be able to start running fine, but your busted leg will eventually make you fall

I hope this helps

[Imtheone]

I kinda got what you're saying...I think. You're basically saying that one should talk with a sort of beat and follow that beat throughout our speech? Sort of like the beat of a song? I don't know. I'm still kinda confused. It sounds really interesting but if you could sum up the main ideas in a paragraph that would probably be a lot better.

[tyty101]

Also, if you are trying this yourself, please leave a comment about your progress from this method. I actually just figured this out about 4 days ago, and the progress I made in the last couple of days have been more than the progress I had for the previous 10 years. Although ever since I had stuttered I've been trying to find a way to "cure" it completely or develop techniques that would help me deal with stuttering, I was foolish because all my experiments focused on the symptoms of stuttering rather than the causation of stuttering. The symptoms are our blocks, elongations, etc. While more speech therapy focuses on helping us get out of these blocks or ease through these blocks, its still stuttering nonetheless. However, I truly believe this rhythm approach fixes the mental causation of stuttering, because it changes the way we consciously monitor and produce the language we speak. It takes practice to implement this, but if you succeed, the speech will be natural and your conscious awareness of the beat mechanism will become more and more autonomic. I can attest that this is happening to me right now. Like I said, all of what I said hasn't been clinically tested or anything and I don't have anyone else to verify it, but I feel strongly enough about it to write a lot of pages about it and share it with the rest of you. I would feel guilty not sharing this with anyone. I am 20 and I've felt that I have suffered enough with stuttering, I just can't imagine how other older people have dealt with it for so long. Remember, stuttering is not a disease, it is a habit. It is a physical manifestation of a mental problem that is accentuated by situational and psychological factors. That means, unlike other diseases, there is no magic pill that we can take to eliminate stuttering. It takes practice. Only when we give up hope for a cure can we start to be cured.

[shansra11]

I think this has been found out before. I dont know what is goes by, but I think its called connected speech or something. Where you imagine the first sound of every word is connected to the last sound of the previous words. So when you sing, you are naturally connecting the sounds together so it is said in one fluent manner.
As stutters, we always find new "10 minute get rich" methods for stuttering less, and dont get me wrong they are usually always helpful, but we have a hard time translating our success from our room to the real world. No one really knows how successful different techniques can be such as easy onsets, deep breathing, connected speech, stuttering easily, because perhaps they could practically cure stuttering with enough practice and dedication, but most of the time we lose focus or get lazy and stop practicing and get depressed. I dont think simply one tip will cure stuttering, as you seem to say, but rather a mixture of everything and dedication and a thirst to never stop fighting. I think the end all, be all book is Malcom Frasers free online book Self Therapy for the stutter. It lets you experiment individually with different techniques, letting you learn how you stutter, and then tells you to use everything you have learned on how to overcome that stutter.

[tyty101]

to shansra11:

Your right, there might have been other research done on what I've written here, but I have yet to found any widespread mainstream approach that focuses on it. And your right, other therapies have proven to be helpful as well.

However, the main point I'm trying to push here is that speaking should be easy. Other methods seem to all require us to physically change something about our speech production that will aid in our production of a word. Other things, such as easy onset, forces us to focus too much on the word itself. With practice, I'm sure stutterers can apply these concepts to their troubled words while speaking other words as they are.

What I'm proposing is a little different. I'm proposing that stutterers should re-examine the cognitive, mental mechanisms that they use with speech production. Not just for troubled words, but for all words. I'm saying that our beat mechanism is something that other people do naturally, but something that is partially lacking in stutterers especially at troubled words. Hopefully, by realizing the existence of a beat mechanism and consciously applying it to the stuttered words, we'll be able to fix the cause of the stutter. Like you said, there are many methods to treat stuttering, and we are free to choose the one's we desire, but it is important to realize not all methods are equal. I'm not cling mine is the best, but it feels like something new and promising and worth a shot

[Imtheone]

How would you suggest us to practice this technique? Should we just read a book aloud and try to follow the beat? Should we just dive right into it and talk to people with this beat?

[Imtheone]

I'm trying to practice this because I think it will work. However, I'm just not sure what beat to use. Just any random beat I can think of?

[tyty101]

The beat is just something to get you started. The whole point of the beat is that when we listen to rhythm, an expectation of continuation is developed in the brain. That's why, as maximillion said, that when a stutterer speaks to with a metronome, he is able to speak with the beat because of the rhythm.

However, I do not recommend using a metronome even to start with. I think if we use it, it becomes something that we feel is necessary for rhythmic speech. That could potentially get people to become attached to the metronome and cannot function without its assistant, or can get desensitized to it altogether

I recommend doing the beat solely in your head at first, probably at 2 beats per second. Speak slowly in a monotone voice. Do this several dozen times. The speed the beat up and practice some more. Make sure each syllable comes out at the beat. You will see that by following the beat, your syllables will come out even if you are anticipating the stutter (as always, employ relaxation techniques and lower your throat's pressure). Once you are comfortable with the beat, try and say the word how you normally would, using your natural rhythm and intonation. Make sure that you are viewing the word AS A WHOLE and not as individual syllables. Don't let your mind process the word syllable by syllable, but as a connection between each syllable that flow into each other. Think of the whole word and its natural rhythm before you speak. This takes some practice because as stutterers, we are conditioned to scan ahead and focus on certain parts/syllables of a hard word. Using the beat, it will assist you to ignore these tendencies and instead view the word as a whole.

[jamesm]

tyty101, I really think you are on to something. I have been trying this rhythmic method for like a day or so and I found it is really helpful. What you, and others have said about NOT focusing to much on each individual word and especially NOT on each individual syllable is key to fluency, using your method or not. I do agree with you, which never really occurred to me before, is that all fluent speech really seems to be is a rhythm. If each of us can basically find our own rythm, our natural rhythm, we can begin to gain more fluency in leaps and bounds. I haven't really done much research about stuttering but what I have read are mostly techniques that have way too much focusing on specific ways to form fluent vocal vibrations, passive airflow etc etc. When we try to do these in a "real-life situations" they don't really work the way they do "in practice". Either we simply forget to do them when we are instantly faced with a block or they just are not strong enough to conquer a real world stuttering episode. But I think this rhythmic approach to speech demands less conscious control than most methods and offers much promise.

[jamesm]

The main stuttering issue that I have that I wish I could manage, is instant, single word responses, such as when someone asks me my name. Because usually I stutter on the first word of something I am going to say. Thats why I do agree with this rythmic method in the first place, because, it seems like once I "get going" in a sentence mostly I can finish with little to no stuttering. But that initial syllable on certain words when I begin a sentence or say my name is always the hardest to get out. I would classify myself as a mild to moderate stutterer, being more on the mild side.

[tyty101]

to jamesm:

Thanks for bringing up the good points. What I found interesting is how most stutters are more fluent once they "get going into the sentence". However, this would imply that your first few syllables are the hardest and are always on the back of your mind, while you think you have no problems with the following syllables. I would advise trying to avoid doing this. Don't just focus the technique on the troubled syllables, but on the entire sentence itself, or otherwise your brain seems to get a bit confused. What I mean by this is that if you only use this method to get by the hard sounds and do the rest of the sentence with no discernable rhythm, it will get more difficult to revert back to the rhythm command on command for the hard syllables. Therefore, I think that only doing it for all words in the sentence, regardless of if we can it or not, will have lasting results since it might create more autonomic responses in time, while switching between different methods to speak does not achieve this.

[jamesm]

Another thing that I think tends to work well in achieving more fluency, used with this rhythmic approach, is to listen to yourself. Really try to listen to your own words and sentences while you are talking. Try not to focus on the situation or the feelings you may be having, but try listen as you speak. Simply observing one's own speech, while not focusing too intently, tends to help with fluency I believe.

Using the rhythmic stuff while listening to yourself sort of goes hand in hand--listen to yourself, listen to your rhythm. Don't focus too intently on your speech but try to listen passively as you speak, the same way your listening to/for your rhythm.

[duration]

this is pretty good, kind of like how people that stutter have no problem singing a song. Because theyre focused on the rhythm and the notes. Using a beat I think is a great way one you master it.

[MarkBulger]

I read about what you are suggesting 30-40 years ago. I also read the criticism. People felt that following a metronome led to artificial, metronomic speech. In fact, speech really doesn't follow a metronomic beat rhythm like music does - if flows "out of time," as musician would say.

The problem with each "solution" that comes along is that a thousand people before you have already tried it. It's not like the rest of us were waiting around for someone to have a bright idea. In stuttering, there is truely nothing new under the sun.

If you have something that seems to work for you, definitely follow it. If you want to share it, this is the place to do so. If it sounds good to you, definitely try it. Just understand that there are thousands of us who have spent decades trying to figure this thing out, never mind the professionals who pay their mortgages trying to do the same thing. Some stutterers really do find a solution that works for them, and God bless them for their success.

My point is that I'd look less for a "solution" than for a set of strategies that together make life better.

[Vegeta]

tyty101 I love you man

[Leroy roy]

tyty101

I am new on this forum and i found the method you described very interesting, but what I would like to know is how is your progress so far since you wrote this last year, is it working for you guys, i have already started trying it and it seems to work. the only problem is getting rid of nervousness and anxiety which i am also working on, sometimes i also use medication to get rid of my nervousness. i find it very difficult guys to speak when there are too many people listening. i get so nervours to an extent that my breath refuses to come out. i think mine is a combination of 2 problems, stuttering plus this phobia of speaking to a large group of people. I have been asked by my boss so many times to give a speech or adress a group of people (public speaking) and i always find ways of avoiding that, either i would tell him that i have an appointment with a doctor on the same day or i need to go for a funeral, i will always come up with an excuse, i think it is going to catch up with me one day. But tyty101 is this method working for you

[annskhan]

Hey this is my first post on any stuttering forum. i kind of agree with tyty101. i recently visited singapore and i was there for an internship. Basically it was a new place and i knew very few people there. I tried a fake accent in Singapore, like in movies a person speaking english in a russian or a french accent. This helped a lot seriously, the reason i thnk is that i knew the beat of that accent. We get so used to the accent we normally speak in, that we dunn really think about the beat attached to it. Try this out with someone u meet at a bar or a club. you can change your accent in so many ways... i experimented alot and seriosuly it works like a charm... it some how gave me confidence too.

[amey]

I read about what you are suggesting 30-40 years ago. I also read the criticism. People felt that following a metronome led to artificial, metronomic speech. In fact, speech really doesn't follow a metronomic beat rhythm like music does - if flows "out of time," as musician would say.

The problem with each "solution" that comes along is that a thousand people before you have already tried it. It's not like the rest of us were waiting around for someone to have a bright idea. In stuttering, there is truely nothing new under the sun.

If you have something that seems to work for you, definitely follow it. If you want to share it, this is the place to do so. If it sounds good to you, definitely try it. Just understand that there are thousands of us who have spent decades trying to figure this thing out, never mind the professionals who pay their mortgages trying to do the same thing. Some stutterers really do find a solution that works for them, and God bless them for their success.

My point is that I'd look less for a "solution" than for a set of strategies that together make life better.


MARK::You said it! This is one of the best posts I have read in a VERY long time. RIght on!

[howeee]

This crap is older than me, I am 56,,,listen to me people, all that crap has temporary benifits and then it will come to back to bit you in worse speech and more secondary symptoms.

The best thing for a stutterer to do is to go about his life as a person who stutterers, stop obsessing about fluency. If you need some immediate relief maybe some medication or a device could help. But falling for the crap that people come up with on here will drive you crazzy and probably complicate your speech even more.

I began as a mild stutterer, then with the good intentions of parents and teachers taking me to everykind of therapy there is I ended up a severe stutterer. At 40 years old I washed my hands of all that crap, accepted myself as a person who will stutter the rest of his life. I am now 16 years later a mild
stutterer as when I began. It takes very little effort and no money lol. Try it.

Every week on these lists people come up with the same old crap like they discovered America or somthing , give us all a break.

[Eminash]

I think you're right about following a beat in speaking. In my younger years, there was a certain newscaster on national television. Her speech was very pleasant to hear and seemed to be in perfect rhythm, as if following a certain beat. I tried to imitate her speech in reading to myself while alone. I even memorized some material and spoke with such rhythm. In no time, that way of speaking was transferred to real speaking situations, and I was completely fluent. Unfortunately, for some reason I can't remember, I did not continue with that method.

[Geoff]

So in a sense we're trying to create one continuous, rhythmic segment of speech instead of spewing out individual words and syllables.

A very interesting and exciting approach which I'm actively going to try and follow. I think most of us put too much emphasis on each individual sound, instead of focusing on the entire message. I believe when fluent people speak, they have in their mind the message they are trying to deliver. However with us, we have each word on our mind. We are thinking to much of the mechanics of the message, rather than the essence of the message itself.

Just imagine trying to create a fluent message when you are trying to force each individual sound into the message. Its always going to come out stuttered.

[tyty101]

Hey guys, so an update on my situation.

As many of your posts earlier mentioned, I was wrong to have named this a "solution" to stuttering. We all heard many times that there is no magic bullet treatment that can cure all stuttering, and this is true -- it is impossible to have a solution when stuttering is actually an aggregation of multiple behavioral tendencies that manifest during speech, rather than a single problem as we have come to think of it. There's a lot of books focusing on the mental, psychological, and physical aspects of stuttering, and they are all worth a read and can play a part in overcoming our problems.

However, I still stand by my conviction that the main cause of stuttering is the lack of rhythm. I have been employing the aforementioned strategy for over a year now, and while I still have the occasional blocks and repetitions, I no longer classify myself as a stutterer anymore because I know that nothing can block what comes out of my mouth. Sure, I will admit there are still times where I will substitute words in place of certain words that tend to bring more trouble, but this is solely out of a laziness to deal with the troubled word rather than a fear of not being able to say the word itself. Over the year I have also revised some of the methods to implement the strategy I have been using, which I'll mention later in this post.

As far as my personal life has progressed, I'm really impressed with my growth. I got a girlfriend for 3 months in the past year (first one in college). I am able to give presentations with relative ease, except with the occasional stumble on the longer words (Sidenote: Since for longer words, you don't view the entire rhythm of the word before you say it. You just focus on the troubled syllable. Therefore, when your mouth positions itself for the syllable yet your rhythm fails to become established, you will get blocked at that position. You'll need to re-establish the rhythm if this happens, which will bring some minor discontinuity in your speech). I've been able to make lots of closer friends too, someone to share things with more intimately, since I'm able to talk without much restriction anymore -- I think I finally have a "best friend" for once in my life. I'm applying for med schools next year too, and I'm not really worried about the interviews anymore, although my GPA is pretty bad haha. I'm very satisfied with how things have been turning out the past year, and I know that I'm still progressing and that the future can only bring further improvement. Although with this new found fluency, I realized I'm a pretty mean person who likes to make fun of people too. I've always had a lot of self-confidence, almost too much, and now its all being released due to this fluency. But that's another story :)

In terms of additional exercises that have helped me within the past years, they are listed as follows:

1) Get a MotivAider (or something similar). This thing is awesome. It reminds you at specific time intervals to practice this technique. The beat mechanism is not a magic solution, but takes constant practice in order to implement, and the MotivAider is the perfect instrument in reminding you to do so. I set mine to have average intervals of 3 minutes. That means for a whole work day (10 hrs) it goes off 200 times. That's the number of time's I practice saying a sentence with trouble words in it to myself using the technique, on top of the everyday conversations you have with other people

2) Purposely Mess up on the ABC. This sounds weird, but when things are looking down, this exercise serves as a good reminder that the problem in stuttering does not lie in you but with your rhythm. Even as stutterers, all of us can sing the ABC. However, purposely make yourself stutter or block on the song. You'll see how your rhythm trails off, ie when you get stuck on C, your rhythm goes to D,E, etc and eventually you'll find yourself have no rhythm at all and still can't get past C. You have to recognize how this feels like, and recognize this is what you do when you stutter. Compare it to how you can sing-say the ABC with perfect fluency, how each letter comes on the exact beat of your intrinsic rhythm. This exercise will remind you what the right way and wrong way of speaking is like, and how you can avoid it.

3) Mental Continuation at Blocks. I love this exercise personally and found it really helpful. Basically, when you feel you have a block midsentence, what you want to do is get to the block and stop talking out loud but still talk in your head. What you'll see is that you often trick yourself into thinking you have a rhythm while in actuality you don't. So just get to the block in the sentence, stop talking outloud, but check if your still talking and saying the rest of the sentence in your head. Often you will find yourself not doing the mental continuation, which means that if you had tried to speak through the stutter aloud, you would have messed up anyways because your mental continuation of the rhythm had already been compromised since you focused too much on the troubled syllable. When you can acknolwedge this problem, you can be more away of it and try to remedy it by practicing and practicing the best way for you to maintain your rhythm. The most common reason i can think of why we stop maintaining a rhythm is that the brain either focuses too much on that one syllable and doesn't think ahead whereas the mouth still wants to go on, or that we have a fear of pronouncing the syllable, preventing our vocal cords from moving. Thus, since our auditory system is run through feedback, when we can't hear our syllables come out in the exact rhythm we want, we try to loop back to the troubled syllable to try to remedy it -- however, this is often at the expense of losing the entire rhythm altogether. Just a hypothesis of course, but seems fairly logical.

Anyways, try some of these things out and tell me how it works. Again, I'm not an expect or anything on this, but if my posts can help even one other person, it will be worth it for me. Thanks for reading this, and remember to always have confidence in yourself and your ability to speak. Don't deny yourself the opportunity. :)

--Tyler Q

[tyty101]

Also, I would like to add that if you're reading this thread and practiced some of the things in here, please leave some feedback. Even a short feedback, such as updating how you're progressing, what problems you encountered, etc, would be great. Often times the problem with these solutions is that we're fascinated by a stuttering-cure guru and listen to every word he says like gospel. However, the most effective remedy takes a group effort to share and build off of each other's experiences. Like I said before, stuttering is not a single problem, but a set of different problems for each of us that just happens to manifest itself through vocal production. There's no one solution for it, but only through practice can it be treated. However, one thing that we cannot practice by ourselves is confidence and support, and that is why we should all be here for each other and make every means to help each other out

[Mr White]

Your at University of Chicago? I'm looking at attending there next year! Is it worth the money?

OT, Thanks for the advice, my main problem has always been with blocks. This might help.

[frostzjc]

Hi tyty101 and the rest of the fellow stutterers!

I'm 15 years old male,and I am a mild stutterer.

I just read this topic 2 hours ago and I tried to start conversations with family members using this method. It works.But one thing is that on difficult words, I can say it out. I just maybe stutter one time. I realised that this method needs practice because when I was talking with my brother just now,I completely forgot about this method and stuttered.

So tomorrow is my oral examination! I'm ready for it,everyone wish me luck!

[frostzjc]

its been about 2 weeks since i took my oral exams.
it went out smoothly!

although i didnt use this technique.
because that morning, when i go to school,i used this method and stuttered quite a lot. Then I stopped using it, because I lost confidence in it.
I felt that the technique to this method is one thing and confidence is another thing.
We need confidence to say out what we want to say. Right now i've been trying to use this method sometimes when I'm trying to say difficult words,and it works..
but otherwise I would choose to not think about anything related to stuttering until I stutter naturally.

Okay, back to my oral exam. I was supposed to read a passage and then answer questions asked by the examiner.

Although I was nervous waiting for my turn, I tried not to think about stuttering, and just sing songs in my head, and divert my attention away to something else.(e.g plan about where i'm going after this exam)
When it was my turn,I immediately started reading out loud before I even think about anything, so everything was smoothly done.I just focused on the passage and try not to think about anything.
Then when the conversation start, I tried to focus on the question and my answer rather than stuttering, and it helped. Although sometimes I stuttered a little bit,I managed to get what I want to say out.

So I think that one of the keys to stuttering is confidence. Although now I have lost some confidence using that method but I'm trying to build it up! Okay that's all for now, I gonna update sometime else. bye!

[isonuZ]

thank you for that tyty.
and btw
[quote]Now, if you want to learn my solution to stuttering, please send a check for that cracked me up! lmao xD

my problem is when i concentrate on not to stutter, i dnt get the word right.
pple always say "what?"
but when i concentrate on sounding the syllables and shit right, i stutter...
it's a whole messed up circle! pisses me off!
any tips on that?

[Fredrick]

hi,

if i really thought your method would work I would gladly pay $59.95.

But it doesn't because you are still switching words, avoiding saying words all together and are still avoiding certain types of people and situations so your technique doesn't work as well as you say.

F

[Mrman]

tyty, your solution makes perfect sense, mind you there is no cookie cutter technique in my opinion. A large part stuttering is habit and we all know about breaking habits. Like anything else in this world, practice, dedication, trial and error (we don’t all learn the same) I believe anyone could almost solve their stutter. It’s hard to eliminate completely because we dont let go of the past. People have to remember that we stutter for more than just one reason. When you practice techniques at home everything is fine, out in the world (depending on the stress from the environment) things get worst. Letting the entire baggage go and starting from scratch isn’t something I can do, so the fear is always somewhat in my mind.

The facts that when you sign or speak in an accent you don’t stutter is key. Myself I have stopped speech therapy back in grade school; I never thought it helped me. I stuttered so bad my teachers and parents thought I was “challenged”. I would actually have to do entire body movements to get words out. As the years went on, it got much better. I have no idea how! I tell myself it’s because I stopped caring; I took my time to speak, word avoidance, or just plain not spoke. These days I have a mild stutter but I know it’s there and I have to remind myself all the time and lately it’s been bothering me. This is what brought me online to search about it and to your post. Good post and good research on your part.

I’m a real analytical guy and will be trying some methods using these mindsets. Hope it can help me some more.

[jiaconis]

For what it's worth, I cannot rememer not having speech issues and since I am now 55 it's been with me for quite a while. I have good speech days and bad speech days and can generally tell which it will be when I wake up. It does take some effort to bypass "problem" words, however, while speaking I can most of the time realize that I am coming up to a word I will have problems with, you almost have to be a walking and talking thesaurus to come up with a word(s) that you will be able to say to subtitute for the problem word and still get your point across in a fluent manner. This does not always work, however, at times I am amazed that I managed to get past the problem. Non-Stutters probably can't imagine what we have to do at times just to sound normal...

[Lenny]

i think ty ty will eventually try and sell this.

[Bobr]

I use a similar technique.
Once I read about an actor in The Moscow Theater who was a severe stutterer, but never stuttered on the scene. I thought it over and come to a conclusion, that the reason was necessity of thinking through every phrase before saying it. The actor is concentrated on intonation, volume and timbre of his voice. He knows very well how his phrase will sound.

When I found myself in an embarrassing situation and the fear of stuttering seems to cause stuttering, I fancy that I'm an actor playing part of me. Before saying a sentence I think of the best way to say it.
It works for two reasons, the first one is what I've said about. The second... It's a really amusing game that distracts me from the fear of speaking.

[Miko]

I think the main point is confidence! Maybe I should write a book and sell it for 1000 $. Anyone interested?

[Lenny]

yes confidence is important but one would have to be confident all the time and how does one accomplish being confident.

we all know you want to write a book so go ahead with what you have planned but I think you are confident because you think you will sell this book to all of us.

what happens to your confidence when your book doesn't sell?:):)

[Bruce]

i will take it off your hands for free....

[Fredrick]

i have been trying the beat technique and I find out that even though my speech hasn't improved that much, I find that I dance better and enjoy music more.

[Bruce]

I think the main point is confidence! Maybe I should write a book and sell it for 1000 $. Anyone interested?

if you could you would!!!

[Miko]

if you could you would!!!

And then I sell it to you! lol

I definitely will, just need to feel it's from my heart and get better in writing in English.

[ahhyes]

First of all... Wow that's a lot of reading. 3 pages.

All this sounds like a speech device that is already out in the market. The device helps you keep a continous tone (beat if you will) which does help you not stutter and make you more fluent. But once the device fails then guess what? You are you again. Stuttering. Who do I know? I've tried it.

Best example that I can think of is. Try it. Ask a friend to help out.

When he or she starts to talk then you talk right after his or her 1st word. You will not stutter. Anyone ever notice that when someone is already talking that if you were to just jump right in that you would not stutter. Of course if you waited until that person finishes than talk. It would be a different situation and you would have that pressure of stuttering again.

Like one of the forum member said. If it works for you then great.

And there is no cure for stuttering just tools to help reduce it and have it under a sensible control so it does not control our life. :)

Brandon

[Steven]

hollins cls a cure, did anyone ever take this program?

does someone want to say it doesn't work and they didn't take the program?

does someone want to say it does work and they didn't take the program?

does someone have their own program that works and will provide it for free (including no tips).

[Bruce]

First of all... Wow that's a lot of reading. 3 pages.

All this sounds like a speech device that is already out in the market. The device helps you keep a continous tone (beat if you will) which does help you not stutter and make you more fluent. But once the device fails then guess what? You are you again. Stuttering. Who do I know? I've tried it.

Best example that I can think of is. Try it. Ask a friend to help out.

When he or she starts to talk then you talk right after his or her 1st word. You will not stutter. Anyone ever notice that when someone is already talking that if you were to just jump right in that you would not stutter. Of course if you waited until that person finishes than talk. It would be a different situation and you would have that pressure of stuttering again.

Like one of the forum member said. If it works for you then great.

And there is no cure for stuttering just tools to help reduce it and have it under a sensible control so it does not control our life. :)

Brandon

YES YES YOU ARE RIGHT, EVERYONE KNOWS THAT IF YOU JUMP IN WHEN SOMEONE IS TALKING OR RIGHT AFTER HER FIRST OR SECOND WORD YOU START TO TALK NO ONE STUTTERS!!!!!!!!

IT IS BECAUSE YOU TAKE THE ATTENTION OFF OF YOU, YOU DON'T FEEL AS SELF-CONSCIOUS, YOU ARE NOT BEING LISTENED TO, YOU DON'T HAVE THE ATTENTION ON YOU, ETC.ETC....

AND THIS PROVES IT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL IN SOME WAY AND NOT PHYSICAL OR NEUROLOGICAL!!!!!!!!!

Uh, oh, here come all the stutterers who say it has been proven it is physical, genetic, neurological so they don't have to feel how lousey they feel about themselves!!!!

[amey]

YES YES YOU ARE RIGHT, EVERYONE KNOWS THAT IF YOU JUMP IN WHEN SOMEONE IS TALKING OR RIGHT AFTER HER FIRST OR SECOND WORD YOU START TO TALK NO ONE STUTTERS!!!!!!!!

IT IS BECAUSE YOU TAKE THE ATTENTION OFF OF YOU, YOU DON'T FEEL AS SELF-CONSCIOUS, YOU ARE NOT BEING LISTENED TO, YOU DON'T HAVE THE ATTENTION ON YOU, ETC.ETC....

AND THIS PROVES IT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL IN SOME WAY AND NOT PHYSICAL OR NEUROLOGICAL!!!!!!!!!

Uh, oh, here come all the stutterers who say it has been proven it is physical, genetic, neurological so they don't have to feel how lousey they feel about themselves!!!!

HA!!! Never knew you were a scientist! Get to a psychologist and get that stuttering cured then!! Let us know how it goes!! :)

[Bruce]

HA!!! Never knew you were a scientist! Get to a psychologist and get that stuttering cured then!! Let us know how it goes!! :)

but i guess that means that you are a scientist since you know it is physical only right?

has the "scientists" cured stuttering at all? No. And if they can, how long will it be before they come up with something? Hundreds of years,

Now I do admit that the vast majority of psychological therapies out there don't cure stuttering, that is true, but that does not mean that the person who does not stuttter, when he talks when the person he is speaking to says a few words, does not mean that if he can remember who used to interrupt him or make fun of him and not allow him to answer back, etc., that is, verbally abuse him and not let him respond, he will not benefit from this if he could reexperince it,

You know, it is what you try to avoid remembering by insisting there is nothing psychological or emotional about it and it is only geneticl so that you can glorify the person who did that to you or something similar.
:)




I mean I

[Steven]

HA!!! Never knew you were a scientist! Get to a psychologist and get that stuttering cured then!! Let us know how it goes!! :)

actually I liked his explanation, it sounded correct and therefore was scientific.

just because you wasted your time with incompetent psychologists does not mean that every one of them is bad..

your opinions are unscientific..

[srdonjuan]

I've experienced similar things when I've spoken in various accents as well. I've often wondered what would be the long term result if I were to try and use that accent all the time. Have you ever attempted this?

[Lenny]

I've experienced similar things when I've spoken in various accents as well. I've often wondered what would be the long term result if I were to try and use that accent all the time. Have you ever attempted this?

talking with an accent makes you feel like your are not yourself and that you are somebody else so you can then speak normally because you are not the person with the stutter and in your own mind so different with the accent that you could not be you at all.

If you are not you then you can be somebody else who ALSO speaks in a different way, doing the accent allows you to not stutter by talking in a different way and allowing you to play like a child being somebody else.

In other words you are doing some acting and we know of many many actors who stuttered and then did acting and did not stutter.

This will work for the most part until you read this and if you read this you might become aware of why it works and it might become undone.

[srdonjuan]

Thanks for the reply Lenny. Your input brings up a even more interested point that Ive looked into and often wondered about. As you mentioned there are many actors who have over come their stutters and other speech impediments through acting. Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, James Earl Jones, Cary Grant(not a stutterer), Marilyn Monroe and the guy from Buffy to name some. Why is this not looked into it in a broader and deeper since?
As you said while speaking with an accent you are essentially acting or pretending to be someone else and the results will be temporary once the novelty wears off. But everyone I talk to about this has never actually attempted to make it a permanent part of them "because it is fake" and disregard the actors who have used this as a way to overcome their stutter.
I'm curious about using acting and accents because it can teach the stutterer to think differently and control their negative beliefs, expectations, and anxieties which are crucial to making lasting progress. It can also help them form habits of using prolonged and gentler onsets.

I'm not saying everyone should become a stage actor and it will help every stutterer. But I think dismissing it as merely a distraction with no lasting value is selling it short.

Thoughts?

[Bruce]

Part of it is that the actors are being someone else.

Part of it is that they know their lines inside out and have rehed and most important of all:

Their speech was not that bad in the first place or how could they even try acting in the first place, right????

[amey]

but i guess that means that you are a scientist since you know it is physical only right?

has the "scientists" cured stuttering at all? No. And if they can, how long will it be before they come up with something? Hundreds of years,

Now I do admit that the vast majority of psychological therapies out there don't cure stuttering, that is true, but that does not mean that the person who does not stuttter, when he talks when the person he is speaking to says a few words, does not mean that if he can remember who used to interrupt him or make fun of him and not allow him to answer back, etc., that is, verbally abuse him and not let him respond, he will not benefit from this if he could reexperince it,

You know, it is what you try to avoid remembering by insisting there is nothing psychological or emotional about it and it is only geneticl so that you can glorify the person who did that to you or something similar.
:)




I mean I

Psychogenic stuttering is very, very rare. Look it up.--old, ridiculous conversation....Yawn.

[Bruce]

Psychogenic stuttering is very, very rare. Look it up.--old, ridiculous conversation....Yawn.


You say you come here foe help yet you clearly act as if you have all the answers and are an authority!

Why do you post here?

[Steven]

psychogenic stuttering is very, very rare. Look it up.--old, ridiculous conversation....yawn.

but there is nothing ridiculous about the way you look you are one very beautiful woman even if you talk thru your hat.

Gosh it is so hard to argue with you, you turn me on...

I am so glad that you put up this photo!!

As charlie chan used to say "thank you so much!"

[Steven]

Psychogenic stuttering is very, very rare. Look it up.--old, ridiculous conversation....Yawn.

I think your response was obnoxiously condenscending, you think you know more than everyone here at the Forum yet you still stutter, why?

[srdonjuan]

Yeah he should probably go to a scientist to cure his stuttering instead...oh wait..they have no idea how to cure stuttering or what is the cause. Good thing you cleared that up for us.

[amey]

but there is nothing ridiculous about the way you look you are one very beautiful woman even if you talk thru your hat.

Gosh it is so hard to argue with you, you turn me on...

I am so glad that you put up this photo!!

As charlie chan used to say "thank you so much!"

GREAT tactic...when all else fails, use ual harassment.

[Fredrick]

Yeah he should probably go to a scientist to cure his stuttering instead...oh wait..they have no idea how to cure stuttering or what is the cause. Good thing you cleared that up for us.

I can understand why you agree with Amy, she is very attractive, I must admit.

But don't you find her comments and posting a bit too authoritative??

I wonder if she is overcompensating for her speech problem like we all do and acting like she is an expert and has all the answer so that she will feel she had some kind of control??

[ancenredY]

Thank you for the good writeup. It in fact was a amut account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! However, how can we communicate? I'll just check back at StutteringForum.com for you later. poker room (http://www.nextpagebooks.com/index.php/member/48606/)

[Steven]

You say you come here foe help yet you clearly act as if you have all the answers and are an authority!

Why do you post here?

GREAT tactic...when all else fails, use ual harassment.

GREAT when you can't with short authoritative non supported answers falsely accuse someone of ual harrassment!!! I am sorry that I can't cave into you and let you win and be right all the time as others let you.

[srdonjuan]

I can understand why you agree with Amy, she is very attractive, I must admit.

But don't you find her comments and posting a bit too authoritative??

I wonder if she is overcompensating for her speech problem like we all do and acting like she is an expert and has all the answer so that she will feel she had some kind of control??

Haha, attractive or not attractive I feel the same way as you. I was actually being sarcastic..works better in non-written form.
I'm not a fan of anyone who is condescending, even if someone is new here and asks a question that others think is stupid.
It's not stupid because they are here trying to learn and find answers. We as stutterers are in a very unique situation where the patients often have more input and answers then the so called "experts". So we should be willing to help each all we can.