Your experiences with speech therapy

[Vermillion]

I'm starting to believe that the only way to overcome stuttering is to have a good speech therapist, or go through one of those intensive programs.

My experiences with speech therapy:

Age 10: My elementary school provided some speech therapy. I wouldn't call it speech therapy though, because it would basically involve some lady taking me out of class in front of the other students. I didn't like that, it made me feel "different."

Age 12: Switched schools, and I had the same kind of therapy. A person would take me out of class to a room where we would do jack shit. This time it was the vice-principal, who obviously did not know jack about helping me. She just made me draw pictures and explain them to her. I felt like she thought I was emotionally disturbed or something, making me draw pictures of my family and stuff. One day, I just told her "I hate coming here", and that was the last I ever saw her.

Age 12 (same year): My parents put me through this intensive speech program. It was a group therapy, and I had to go there for my whole spring break, working 7-8 hours a day on my speech. They taught us prolongation and connective-speech, stretching out syllables. I came out of the program fluent, and maintained fluency for a year. That year was the first time I was ever getting A grades (I was getting C grades before that). But then, a year later, I reverted back into my stuttering habits and I was worse than ever.

I'm 18 years old now, and haven't had any "formal" speech therapy (that is, individually with a therapist).
However, I'm considering it.

Right now, my stuttering is mild, but it can become worse with certain people/situations.

I'd like to know your experiences.

[happy7117]

I had speech therapy in Elementary School--
but the teacher did not pull me out
of class-- I had to go to her classroom..
me and another couple of kids-- we learned about
synonyms and antonyms--but it was not stuttering
related at all!!! Wasted my time!!!

Junior high was the same deal!! We played word
games that had nothing to do with stuttering---!!

High School-Grades 9-12, I had enough
of the speech thearpy in the school system
by this time and did not go(to the therapy room)!!!

During the summer between 10th and 11th grade,
I went to what is called the Starbuck Fluency
Clinic in Geneseo, NY!!! And it's just as you might
think!!!

A 4 week intensive program where we
learn how to re-speak from scratch all over again!!
8 hours a day for 5 days a week for 4 weeks...
Very mentaly and physicaly exhausting!!!

I have not been to the Precision Fluency Shaping Thing or the Hollins thing, but hear endlessly on the forum about it!!! But I'm sure Hollins and The Precision
Fluency thing are probably very Starbuck Fluency Clinic Like!!! Since I have not been to Hollins
or Precision, I can't make a comparison!

After the 4 weeks at Starbuck, I came home
on cloud 9 and Extremely Fluent- and talked
non-stop fluently after having it all bottled up and not being able to get it out--it felt so incredibly great,
and for a time I could not believe it was my voice
because I was so used to stuttering!!!

My brother who was a few years younger than me
was shocked and forgot that I stuttered after hearing me....

But the big downfall came when I entered 11th
grade 3 months after I returned from the clinic-
being unable to maintain the techniques we were
taught because it was the real-world with the real
life hustle and bustle of the real world- my stuttering
started to gradualy return.. more and more gradualy untill I hit a total relapse on October 31 117....

The day I relapsed, I literaly COULD NOT TALK--
MY MOUTH WOULD OPEN AND IT WOULD JUST
HANG, AND NO SOUND WOULD COME OUT!!

This was a school day at the last period
Very freaky - luckily it was the last period!!!!!

As you can imagine- I wanted to get the heck
outta there!

I then went into a deep depression caused by the
relapse of the stuttering---I saw a counseler-
and him, me, and my parents agreed to take me out of school cause of the extreme pressure
the school environment was having on my speech..

I went on medication and I still do, and I think
the medication is for the depression and anxiety
that is caused by that fatefull day my relapse
occured...

I went to speech therapy for an hour a week
a few years ago, and I was taught the same things
I was taught at the Starbuck place-- it was an hourly
rehash of fluency shaping- and the skills did not
work in the real world--but of course i was fluent
in the therapy room!!!

I was mad that the therapy at this local place
was not helpful for outside real situations-- so
I only went for 3 months and then stopped going!!

As of now- Im currently not going to any therapy-
and stuttering and totaly angry about it-- still saving for a device that will help me since a device is the only thing that will help me-- traditional thearpy has
not done it for me!!!

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL FOR EVERY
STUTTER PERSON!! AND FLUENCY SHAPING WAS
TRIED FOR ME AND FAILED IN THE END!!

FIND WHAT HELPS FOR YOU WHEATHER IT BE A DEVICE OR FLUENCY SHAPING AND STICK WITH IT!!!

AS FOR ME, FLUENCY SHAPING DID NOT HELP ME,
SO I DID NOT STICK WITH IT...BUT A DEVICE I WILL
DELIGENTLY WORK WITH!!

GOOD LOOK TO ALL OF US!!

[Leeboy13]

@happy7117

I like you have tried many different speech theaphys and found to not gain a lot. also i have tried hypnotisum (sorry my spelling is really bad)..

The thing i found to help the most is to be happy. i know this isnt as easy as it sounds, but you must stop worrying about your stammer, dont see it as something that holds you back.... I find im really bad when i think about it (which is what you do before ie: answering your phone, ordering food..... any of these daily 'pains in the ').

Like anything, dont let a stammer run your life, never ever decide not to do something because of your stammer. a lot is positive mental attitude as every stammera i know gets worse when they are worried or depressed... So big smiles everyone.

Another lil note to add, when i did my hypnotisum classes, teh guys basically talked about things within my life that made me happy, made me focus on those... generally after teh classes i felt so amazingly happy and my speech would be great for a while...

Hope this helps in some way

Lee

[bignick]

I went to a speech therapist when I was young, maybe 8 or 9, cant really remember much about it except I didnt like going to it, dont think it helped me much, like Lee said in the earlier message I tried hypnotherapy and it helped me for a bit as I felt relaxed and good after my sessions. I still have tapes of the sessions and if I feel a bit down or my speech is useless I listen to the tape before I go to bed.
Stuttering affects people in different ways and I have not been affected so badly so that it rules my life, luckily. Seems to me that the therapy differs in the USA than in the UK and reading what happy7117 and vermillion say about it in the USA it didnt seem to work there either. Its a shame there isnt a specific therapy to help wherever you are in the world, but then again am I asking too much. Its too late for me as I wouldnt go and see one now, but more for the younger generation to help them realise what they are capable of and not letting their stutter stop them in life.

Nick

[happy7117]

I went to a speech therapist when I was young, maybe 8 or 9, cant really remember much about it except I didnt like going to it, dont think it helped me much, like Lee said in the earlier message I tried hypnotherapy and it helped me for a bit as I felt relaxed and good after my sessions. I still have tapes of the sessions and if I feel a bit down or my speech is useless I listen to the tape before I go to bed.
Stuttering affects people in different ways and I have not been affected so badly so that it rules my life, luckily. Seems to me that the therapy differs in the USA than in the UK and reading what happy7117 and vermillion say about it in the USA it didnt seem to work there either. Its a shame there isnt a specific therapy to help wherever you are in the world, but then again am I asking too much. Its too late for me as I wouldnt go and see one now, but more for the younger generation to help them realise what they are capable of and not letting their stutter stop them in life.

Nick

I'm not sure if i get your message so here goes
my take::

The yonger one starts to stutter, the eaiser it will be to fix it--because at the young age our brain has not
hard wired the stuttering pattern yet....so there is still time to fix it..

And like you said already, the best thearpy may not be the right therapy for someone..no matter where they are from..!

[bignick]

Happy,

Yes sorry my message was a bit carbled, I knew what I wanted to say but didnt really know how to say it.
Yes you are right in what your take is on my entry.

[Standingtall]

In the 4th grade, I was told for the first time that I stutter. The teacher told me, to quit my stutter or in the white school, they are not going to stand for it and I will get the strap. When I was going to school, getting the strap was common pratice. I cried and walked back to my desk. I was very vocal, but after that, I kept my mouth shut.

My grandmother was a strong christian and she heard about this faith healer and she took me there. I was stutter free for the rest of the summer. I remember telling an friend. I don't stutter anymore and he smiled and said, 'oh yeah I notice now'.

In high school, one teacher tried to help me and arranged an appoitment with an speech specialist. It is because she caught me walking the halls, when I was supposed to be giving an oral presentation. She had me repeat all the words in the alphabet and then told me that I have problems with my vowels. Then she told me she couldn't really help me, because I was in high school and she helps elementary students.

I see an ad on TV, and I contacted the university but couldn't afford it. I got married and was focus on my new life. My grandmother and dad, were strong role models, which gave me a lot of pride. I was never out of a job for very long and now I had an wife to support.

When I got this current job, I contacted the university again and went to an couple sessions, to see where I sit. I was tested and got an tour on kind of treatment they do. The price gone up of course and they would have me living on campus, but I couldn't afford to take time off from work.

They offer an one on one session with me and I am strongly thinking of taking it. Just a few years ago, I discover the internet and the info out there. If I had this when I was younger, I think I would be further along than I am now.

Well, that is my experience with therapy.

[kashyapi]

Hi everyone,
I read all of your postings. I am currently a graduate student in Speech language pathology. I dont see any reason why therapy does not work. There is lots out there to guide people with stuttering, and there are support groups to help people who stutter. I think if you are dedicated and motivated enough to consistently practice the material and techniques taught by the SLP then there has to be a difference. The main component of stuttering therapy is practice and motivation. Unless you actively participate you will not find satisfactory results. I think that you all should attend speech therapy with a positive attitude rather than thinking that it is a waste of time

[Standingtall]

Thanks Kashyapi,
I agree with your advice. I can tell your an graduate student. Those two, pratice and motivation, can work on anything we do if we stutter or not. You don't become an excellent driver on the first try. You don't become an wayne gretzky just by putting a stick in your hands and putting your feet into skates. I assume you don't stutter, so I got some advice for you. The best of luck with your new career and I hope you go far. Show deep passion for your clients. A willing student will go as far as an willing teacher. We will work hard on our part. Looking forward in hearing more of your advice, see you out in the forum.

[kashyapi]

Thank you for your reply. I will be more than happy to help anyone who needs help from me. I empathize will all who stutter. We had a project for my stuttering class in which we all had to fake stuttering in public with at least 5 people. i think that experience gave me insight as to how it must be to deal with it every day. Please post me questions, if any, anytime, and I will get you the info if I can. I have a very supportive faculty staff at college who I can pass on your questions to if I m unable to answer them.
Good luck

[JOEY]

hey whats up guys, i was in speech therapist really young, it really helped me then i left it, now that i am 20 i have gone trhough stuttering therapy in austin, is nice but now in about two weeks am attending hollins communications research institute, supposedly to be one of the best of the united states, it is a 2 week intensive course, ill keep you guys posted with the results.
i have also the speech easy and it does help me but not as i would like to...
ill keep you posted guys
http://www.stuttering.org/

[lupes]

this is a good topic cos im sure every one of us will have had some form of speech therapy one time or another.

mine involved also being taken out of class aged about 11-12, had these like 4-5 times at most, which didn't really help.

then one summer when i was about 13 i was asked to attend this speech therapy thing over a course of a week which had about 10 other people attending.

the sad thing is, i managed to hide my stammer so well and avoid words i got stuck at that i actually managed to convince the therapists (2 of em, dam i was good!) that my stammer had gone.

so that was the last of my therapy...i kind of shot myself in the foot.

[goatmule]

I had speech therapy when I was 10 or so. Did nothing cause I tried not to stutter in front of her cause it embarrassed me. She and a lot of others thought I just spoke too fast (which I did and do, but that's not the source problem) and focussed on where my tongue was when I swallowed. WHATEVER! LOL

[happy7117]

I had speech therapy when I was 10 or so. Did nothing cause I tried not to stutter in front of her cause it embarrassed me. She and a lot of others thought I just spoke too fast (which I did and do, but that's not the source problem) and focussed on where my tongue was when I swallowed. WHATEVER! LOL

They probably thought you did not stutter cause
you were so good at wanting to hid it!!

If there was a way I could hide my stutter
in a a way no one would notice it, I would...

But wouldnt that increase it???

[happy7117]

I see a lot of mixed emotions regarding the topic of speech therapy. My take: I'm incline to the left of the scale. I tried it about 10 years ago and (IMO) it did nothing for me. Notwithstanding this fact, I am not saying it does not work . . . I am saying it did not work for me. Many other stutterers swear by it; and that's their opinion, which I respect.

I just do not see the point in paying someone to tell you: "Ok, now control your breath, elongate the syllables, and . . . there you go, good job". Anyway, I don't mean (or want) to sound negative. As I stated before, this is my opinion and it did not work for me.

There is, however, a positive side that I found in it. During group therapy I met a lot of wonderful, professional, and determined stutteres whom I admire and care for a lot. I was able to touch the lives of many folks as well as having been touched by them. So, in that regard, it was money well spent just to be able to associate with and relate to other people who stutter to various degrees ranging from mild to extremely heavy (as in about every word that they spoke).

For those of you who rely on and have been helped by speech therapy . . . Hat's off to you. I will continue to use my "introspective self-analysis" in order to improve my self-esteem and self-image which in turn seems to work at reducing (and please note that I did not say "curing") my dysfluency.

Cheers!!!

All that prolongation stuff, and remembering to
breath right--it helps in therapy sessions- but remembering to apply those strategies outside
the therapy room is extremely difficult--because
everyone is so spontaneous and natural--and that's how we would like to sound--and the strategies make us feel as strange as the stuttering does-- the strategies offer "fake fluency""--it is not natural
fluency.....

Also being in a room fill of stutterers-wouldnt that make one feel uncomfortable..it's like a stutterer looking at a mirror of his own stuttering...it's good to find others in the same boat- but on the other side of the coin--it slams the idea that you stutter in your face!!

[Antman5434]

Speech therapy did wonders for me, i was recently discharged from my program because they felt they could do no more for me other to attend monthly meetings. my clincian took a 300 word speech sample and i only had a 9% disfluency

[happy7117]

Speech therapy did wonders for me, i was recently discharged from my program because they felt they could do no more for me other to attend monthly meetings. my clincian took a 300 word speech sample and i only had a 9% disfluency

Had to have been the RIGHT therapy
that was the kind you needed!!!

Speech Therapy is not right for all-- some
it's the kind they need-- some it's not!!