Mid-word inhalations

[lindseySLP]

I am curious if anyone uses mid-word inhalatioins as a form of stuttering while they are in conversation. I am a speech pathologist and have a 5 year old (his brother is 8 and produces the same type of stutter) who uses mid-word inhalaitons while conversing. We are attempting to keep his voice "on" while repeating short sentences in hopes there is no break between words for him to inhale. Please elt me know if anyone stutters like this. Thank you

[Nemo]

It could be a 'trick' to break the block. I suspect that the trick works by opening the vocal cords. There are many such tricks, such as coughing (either within or before a word). Tricks such as these tend to become learned habits, because there is a reward: being able to continue speaking.

[lindseySLP]

I am just unsure about how to go about therapy. We are tackling him answering questions he know the answer to and recieveing positive reinforcement when there are "no bumps" but he also recieves posiitve reinforcement when he identifies "the bumps" in both his and teh clinician's speech. He is just beginning to listen to himself on tape to ID "bumpy speech" as well. If you know of any tx ideas it would be greatly appreciated. Thank You

[Nemo]

I am not an expert, but I am biased in favour of the passive airflow technique. Have you tried it with him? That means that he should emit a VERY SLIGHT, PASSIVE stream of air from his lips BEFORE saying the first word of the sentence; also he should slow down the first syllable (or syllables if necessary). If the first word is one-syllabic, he has to say it as if there is a 'mental comma' after this one-syllabic word.

With the above technique, vocal cord tension is reduced in advance so that it may not be necessary for him to inhale in mid-word in order to reduce vocal cord tension.

When I learned the airflow technique, we had to also practise 'mid-word reapplication', meaning that sometimes it may be necessary to use airflow also within a word if needed. It seems that your son is doing this, but the other way around; instead of flowing out, he's inhaling.

My son also stuttered when young, but at age nine I taught him the airflow technique. He's now 17 and his speech is well under control, he even joined the debating team.

Do let us know how he is doing.

[amey]

I am just unsure about how to go about therapy. We are tackling him answering questions he know the answer to and recieveing positive reinforcement when there are "no bumps" but he also recieves posiitve reinforcement when he identifies "the bumps" in both his and teh clinician's speech. He is just beginning to listen to himself on tape to ID "bumpy speech" as well. If you know of any tx ideas it would be greatly appreciated. Thank You

Honestly, I think that rewarding "no bumps" is counter productive. In fact, you are inadvertantly telling him it is not o.k. to stutter, that stuttering is the BEST speech. This leads to shame.-- I guess that is just the difference between stuttering MANAGEMENT and FLUENCY SHAPING theories.- I know this inhalation behavior and it is a trick. Kind of like talking on the exhale is a trick also.-- My best advice is to stop him immediately and have him stutter the word out. He is doing this inhalation to avoid a repetition or block. Until this inhalation is stopped, the real stuttering can not REALLY be addressed. this behavior will eventually turn into a secondary and those are monsters to eliminate.--At this point, I dont think you are dealing with his authentic stuttering, you have to break his little tricks that he probably isnt completely aware he is doing. He is hiding the stuttering, he needs to let it out. Good luck!

[amey]

It would be a good idea to video and show him what he is doing. One of the first steps in helping our stuttering is to SEE and LEARN how we stutter.

[amey]

Honestly, I think that rewarding "no bumps" is counter productive. In fact, you are inadvertantly telling him it is not o.k. to stutter, that stuttering is the BEST speech. This leads to shame.-- I guess that is just the difference between stuttering MANAGEMENT and FLUENCY SHAPING theories.- I know this inhalation behavior and it is a trick. Kind of like talking on the exhale is a trick also.-- My best advice is to stop him immediately and have him stutter the word out. He is doing this inhalation to avoid a repetition or block. Until this inhalation is stopped, the real stuttering can not REALLY be addressed. this behavior will eventually turn into a secondary and those are monsters to eliminate.--At this point, I dont think you are dealing with his authentic stuttering, you have to break his little tricks that he probably isnt completely aware he is doing. He is hiding the stuttering, he needs to let it out. Good luck!

OH, Man! I meant that you are inadvertantly telling him that FLUENT speech is the best speech.

[Thecoherentman]

I am not an expert, but I am biased in favour of the passive airflow technique. Have you tried it with him? That means that he should emit a VERY SLIGHT, PASSIVE stream of air from his lips BEFORE saying the first word of the sentence; also he should slow down the first syllable (or syllables if necessary). If the first word is one-syllabic, he has to say it as if there is a 'mental comma' after this one-syllabic word.



Nemo, I always admire your posts and also agree with you that "passive airflow technique" is a great tool for practice. However airflow must only be used in practice and not in real situations when stutterer is communicating. Airflow technique can be used alone or with therapist for warming up and before getting engaged in speaking with others.

[howeee]

I am curious if anyone uses mid-word inhalatioins as a form of stuttering while they are in conversation. I am a speech pathologist and have a 5 year old (his brother is 8 and produces the same type of stutter) who uses mid-word inhalaitons while conversing. We are attempting to keep his voice "on" while repeating short sentences in hopes there is no break between words for him to inhale. Please elt me know if anyone stutters like this. Thank you

He is obviously running outta breath. Yes i think you are right have him talk in shorter phrases so he doesnt run out of breath and you have complete continuous voicing sentences. I used to run outta breath like that then I would stutter in the middle of the word. I am now a much milder stutterer and dont do that.

I dont really believe that stuttering therapy works to well. I have been to about every kind of stuttering therapy there is. I am not impressed with any of it really, and believe years of it made me a severe stutterer. But I did go once to a therapist who was also a stutterer himself. He was employed at University of Michigan. He had himself about 99% free of stuttering.

His contention was that most people talk with continuous voicing. People who stutter do not. So he took bits pieces of different therapies and came up with exercises that would help put that in place for stutterers. He somtimes called it droning. He would first have you extend every syllable to about 2 seconds in practice sentences. Then after a couple weeks of that you would reduce it gradually to just the first syllable of the sentence. But what he was teaching was continuous voicing for the entire sentence. He once told me he had a relapse then he just went back to droning 5 minutes a day and soon he was ok again.

It was the only therapy that impressed me in 35 years of all kinds of therapy. He only had you practicing 5 mintues a day, very doable.

So I think you are on the right track.

[lianpeng]

i have checked it’s really great