Israphel
06-09-2010, 12:56 AM
First off, a bit about myself. I'm a 20 year old Software Developer living in Utah. I've stuttered since I was able to speak. I was a severe stutterer when I was young; I couldn't say my own name without help. Like most, I was admitted to a speech therapist. The therapy helped me a bit when I was young but nothing seemed to work for me. I tried most of the techniques and tips they told me to try and they all ended up the same - fine in the therapist's office, horrible in real life.
As I grew older, I became very reclusive due to my stuttering problem. I was pretty pessimistic and thought I'd never find happiness in life due to my inability to communicate like a "normal" person. After I started High School, I started to adopt the "I don't give a " view of life. My new outlook on life helped my stuttering but not by much. Even then I was asking my teachers for work-arounds on class presentations. Sadly, most of them didn't care and gave me the "face your fears" speech like everyone else did. I took this as a simple way for people who don't know what they're talking about to brush someone off. Stuttering isn't just something that can be cured by a class presentation.
As time went on, I began to study the way I spoke more and more. There were a few factors that I attributed to my stuttering, namely the setting and the word. I found it odd that there were just some sounds that were really difficult for me to pronounce. So, as a clever person, I found a clever way around it. Luckily, the English language is littered with synonyms and back doors to get your meaning across. If, when speaking, I come up on a word I know I'll have a problem with, I just use another word or add a pause.
Like I said, I'm in college for software development, so I often have to make lengthy, technical presentations involving lots of long and difficult to pronounce words. Even for some of my classmates who don't stutter, these presentations can be a strain. One thing I've found that public speakers use a lot - the pause. The pause can be a great aide to any presentation or public speech. It builds anticipation and emphasis, as well as redirects attention. The pause can also act as the perfect delay to recollect your thoughts, build composure, and think about what to say next. I've even found myself trying to steady my breathing during pauses.
I may be a bit of a nerd but even when I went to school in Atlanta, Georgia (mainly full of sports-fanatics, no nerds to be found), I was able to pull attention away from my less-than-perfect speech by involving the class in something as simple as laughing. Where my stuttering created potholes in the street of lingual perfection, I put boards on top to at least patch things up.
About me now: My speech has changed a lot since I was a kid. The only people around me who know of my stuttering are my parents, my dog, and my best friend. No one else knows or even thinks I stutter. When I come out and tell them, they're surprised. I used the techniques listed above to try and model my speech in the shape of something acceptable. I may not be the best reader in the class, I may not be Obama-tier in terms of public speaking, but thanks to my stuttering, I was forced to gain a deeper understanding of words and the structure of language. I speak English and French fluently, I'm also studying Japanese. Even in other languages, a pause or a synonym for a word/phrase you have problems with can be a great asset. Since French is such a vowel-dependent language, it's very difficult for me to read aloud but very easy for me to speak freely.
Just saying, to all of you stutterers out there, there is hope. You just have to set your eyes on a goal and take the steps to get there. It's taken me 20 years to get where I am now and I don't regret anything. All the teasing gave me motivation to be more than what I was.
Stuttering is something I'm very serious and passionate about and it bothers me to see someone else with the same problems giving up. So, just thought I'd give people something to be hopeful for.
As I grew older, I became very reclusive due to my stuttering problem. I was pretty pessimistic and thought I'd never find happiness in life due to my inability to communicate like a "normal" person. After I started High School, I started to adopt the "I don't give a " view of life. My new outlook on life helped my stuttering but not by much. Even then I was asking my teachers for work-arounds on class presentations. Sadly, most of them didn't care and gave me the "face your fears" speech like everyone else did. I took this as a simple way for people who don't know what they're talking about to brush someone off. Stuttering isn't just something that can be cured by a class presentation.
As time went on, I began to study the way I spoke more and more. There were a few factors that I attributed to my stuttering, namely the setting and the word. I found it odd that there were just some sounds that were really difficult for me to pronounce. So, as a clever person, I found a clever way around it. Luckily, the English language is littered with synonyms and back doors to get your meaning across. If, when speaking, I come up on a word I know I'll have a problem with, I just use another word or add a pause.
Like I said, I'm in college for software development, so I often have to make lengthy, technical presentations involving lots of long and difficult to pronounce words. Even for some of my classmates who don't stutter, these presentations can be a strain. One thing I've found that public speakers use a lot - the pause. The pause can be a great aide to any presentation or public speech. It builds anticipation and emphasis, as well as redirects attention. The pause can also act as the perfect delay to recollect your thoughts, build composure, and think about what to say next. I've even found myself trying to steady my breathing during pauses.
I may be a bit of a nerd but even when I went to school in Atlanta, Georgia (mainly full of sports-fanatics, no nerds to be found), I was able to pull attention away from my less-than-perfect speech by involving the class in something as simple as laughing. Where my stuttering created potholes in the street of lingual perfection, I put boards on top to at least patch things up.
About me now: My speech has changed a lot since I was a kid. The only people around me who know of my stuttering are my parents, my dog, and my best friend. No one else knows or even thinks I stutter. When I come out and tell them, they're surprised. I used the techniques listed above to try and model my speech in the shape of something acceptable. I may not be the best reader in the class, I may not be Obama-tier in terms of public speaking, but thanks to my stuttering, I was forced to gain a deeper understanding of words and the structure of language. I speak English and French fluently, I'm also studying Japanese. Even in other languages, a pause or a synonym for a word/phrase you have problems with can be a great asset. Since French is such a vowel-dependent language, it's very difficult for me to read aloud but very easy for me to speak freely.
Just saying, to all of you stutterers out there, there is hope. You just have to set your eyes on a goal and take the steps to get there. It's taken me 20 years to get where I am now and I don't regret anything. All the teasing gave me motivation to be more than what I was.
Stuttering is something I'm very serious and passionate about and it bothers me to see someone else with the same problems giving up. So, just thought I'd give people something to be hopeful for.