Strategies and Daily Life
Hello! My name is Kaylee and I am a graduate student at SFA for Speech-Language Pathology. My question is, “What strategies or techniques have you found most helpful in managing your stutter, and how have they impacted your daily life and interactions with others?”
Hi Kaylee
For me that would be meeting other PWS as a no 1. Being surrounded by people who are like you (although all different), and even allies who get it, meant feeling free. Free to speak, free to express myself, free to share thoughts and emotions, free to share my skills and knowledge, etc. Knowing people get it, people who don’t judge, don’t “help” or “advice” makes me more fluent. I no longer have to think about my words, my techniques, my shame, my hiding, just speak the way the words come out. On the other hand, stuttering is physically tough, and I have days where every single word is a struggle, and give me muscle tension, a migrain and even hiccups! So I also learned some techniques. I like those that are closest to my normal speech. So slowing down a little, articulate a little, use shorter sentences, use body language, etc. I also gained a lot from Mindfulness, NLP, public speaking, Speaking Circles, and last but not least: facing my fears. And here’s another benefit from meeting others who’ve walked the walk, and literally talked the talk. I’d love to see more PWS in schools, more friends in the therapy room to do exercised together and learn more about stuttering, and more knowledge in society, as well as amongst ourselves. Research based upon our questions, presented in a way we understand, and more WITH us instead of ABOUT us. Maybe it’s not us who need to learn to be fluent, but others who need to learn to patiently listen. 😉 Also check out my paper in this year’s conference (and previous ones): https://isad.live/isad-2024/papers-presented-by/stories-and-experiences-with-stuttering-by-pws/a-voice-worth-listening-to-anita-blom
Keep them talling!
Anita
Hi Kaylee,
I don’t know if there are ways to “manage” stuttering. For a person who stutters, stuttering means losing control. Can a loss of control be managed? I don’t know.
I can try not to stutter, or rather I can hide it, avoid it, escape it. But again — I don’t know if I would call this “management.”
(Maybe my view of things is a little too radical :))
Andrea