Voluntary stuttering
Hello my name is Kassandra Estrada. I am a senior at CSUF. I am currently taking a fluency class where we recently did a voluntary stuttering assignment and we had to do voluntary stuttering. It was a very interesting assignment and I felt many mixed emotions. I am still curious about this technique whether this is an effective technique or not. What are your thoughts about voluntary stuttering? do you believe it’s an effective technique? why or why not?
thank you!
Dear Kassandra,
Hi! Great question. There was another student from California who asked the same question in a few days ago (see all ask professional questions for more information). Here is what I wrote her:
“Voluntary stuttering, like any other skill (I call them “skills” and not techniques or tools because the word “skill” implies practice, work, patience, learning, and growth) is helpful for those people who stutter who find this skill beneficial. As a person who stutters, an SLP, and professor, I have the students I teach in undergrad and graduate school do a similar activity that you do. This is to: 1) Have students step in the shoes of a person with a COMMUNICATION DISORDER (not just stuttering) 2) To start to desensitize themselves to stuttering 3) To practice in a real life speaking situation using different disfluencies because as future SLPs they will be modeling for clients and will be going first.
Many times during therapy the SLP must show what they are talking about, that means voluntarily stuttering to model what they might mean. ON many occasions I have called restaurants, ordered food, or performed a speaking situation for a client watching nearby so they can have the perspective of stepping outside of a speaking situation where someone stutters. How often do they get that perspective to observe and learn? This is important for their growth and a conversation.
As a skill, pseudo-stuttering or voluntary stuttering, takes the willingness to choose a word and stutter on it. From the perspective of a PWS, this can provide a sense of perceived control over stuttering and instill confidence as they keep practicing.”
Does all of the above make sense? There is more to this but I wanted to get the conversation going here.
Thanks!
with compassion and kindness,
Scott
For me, voluntary stuttering almost always turns into “real” stuttering, so if that’s what I’m going for, great.
But if I want to use VS to exercise and have some control with when and how I stutter, always turning into a real stutter doesn’t really help. I often feel out of control when I stutter.
Pam