Question for PWS
When stuttering, do you know what you are going to say, like your brain has the sentence and knows what you want to say or is it finding the right word?
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Question for PWS — 5 Comments
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Thank you for the question!
In the disorder of stuttering, one always knows what one wants to say. It is not in any way a problem of word-finding – that would be a different type of disorder.
Some who stutter are very good in switching words or phrases around, from what was originally intended, to avoid stuttering. Substituting words is a form of avoidance, but many who stutter find that useful and are quite skilled at it. In this way, they can hide their stuttering from listeners – many who stutter develop a large vocabulary for this purpose.
That strategy doesn’t help me – if I change a word around, I would nearly always stutter on the substituted word instead.
Thank you for your reply Paul, I really enjoyed reading about Substituting. I think it’s interesting how substituting is different person to person. Also the way you put, “word-finding”. How that would be a different type of disorder. That helped me understand the reading more.
Thank you for the comment to me, RobS. I’m glad that you found it very helpful!
I coined a phrase 30 something years ago which I think best explains the difference between fluent speakers and those who stammer / stutter.
‘Fluent speakers say what they think
Those who stutter think what they say.’
And that’s the fundamental difference. If you stutter you’re more concerned with the mechanics of getting the words out than communicating your thoughts. It’s the exact opposite for fluent speakers. The art of speaking for them requires little if any conscious thought, which perhaps explains why a lot of people speak rubbish 😎
Paul’s quite right. Many of us who stutter are working half a sentence ahead avoiding words we’ll know we’ll block on or repeat and trying to find a suitable substitute. It’s often exhausting and requires a mental dexterity that fluent speakers seldom if ever have to deal with.
I love phrases that can clearly articulate a concept so simply. And this phrase did it super.
“Fluent speakers say what they think
Those who stutter think what they say.”
Thank you for sharing this phrase Jon. 🙂
As you add on Paul’s comment, I think I can see a correlation between your comments. The process of substituting phrases or words and how that consistent mental gymnastics could lead to fatigue or exhausted.