When did it all begin?
Do you remember when you first began to stutter? Was it something that you distinctly remember, or do you feel it was always something that you were experiencing? I know every individual is different, but I would love to hear your experiences. Thank you!
I don’t remember clearly. I started to stutter around the age of 7-8 years old. My earliest memory about my stutter was when I met a speech therapist at the hospital at this age (2 or 3 times) and the SLP misdiagnosed my stutter (stuttering is sometimes still not well-known…)
According to my parents I began to stutter in nursery school aged around three or four. They believed my stutter began because I was bullied by another boy called Christopher Scodder. Their theory was strengthened when my stutter apparently disappeared after we moved from England to Scotland and my speech fluency returned. However, as soon as I started Primary One (Grade One) the dysfluency returned and I’ve stuttered ever since.
Both my parents were psychologists but knew little if anything about stuttering and why one stutters. They thought it might be psychological. My mother was very supportive, my father not so much. We now believe stuttering might be a neurological condition and if so this might lead to different and more targeted approaches re speech therapy.
It should be noted that most folk begin stuttering at an early age so they depend on others, usually their parents, to remember and relate when / why they began their dysfluency journey. It’s an emotional time for both parent and child and because of this these memories may be distorted or even wrong.
I think it is very interesting that both your parents are/were psychologists! Do you remember any specific emotions that you felt when you were a young child that your parent’s supported you and helped you work through? If so, what do you remember being the most beneficial thing your parents or professionals in your life did to support you? As a future SLP, it is an important piece of our job to provide simplistic counseling to patients and any advice would be beneficial for potential encounters with young children who need some support.
No, they were my mum and dad and it wasn’t until much later I knew and understood they were both psychologists. My mother was very supportive and while my teachers and to some extent my father didn’t think I’d amount to much she did. I didn’t get any speech therapy until 14 years old and it was dispiritingly poor but then again it was free and in the sixties. People who stammer / stutter tend to have low self esteem but my mum ensured her five children believed in themselves. As a matter of interest one of my brothers also stammered and was dyslexic. Funnily his dyslexia bothered him far more than his stammer. We now know stammering is probably neurological and it would be interesting to learn if dyslexia, Tourette’s and stammering were linked.
According to family members, I began stuttering as soon as I started putting sentences together at age 3. I have no memories of fluent speaking prior to stuttering.
My family had already been familiar with the problem of stuttering, as one of my father’s first cousins – then a teenager – also stuttered.
But it is very possible I actually began stuttering earlier. At age 2 I was speaking in single words and short phrases. Then suddenly I stopped speaking altogether – I went totally silent. My parents, concerned that I might be deaf, had my hearing tested – but my hearing was fine.
I resumed speaking at age 3, started putting sentences together for the first time, and from all accounts I began stuttering right away.
I have no recollection of my mysterious silent period, but I have a theory: I may have been experiencing silent blocks (without anyone else realizing that), and found the act of speaking to be just too difficult. Perhaps I decided it was not worth the effort, and just stopped speaking.
Although I was somewhat late in speaking, I was very early in reading. I taught myself how to read at age 3, and guided myself with an alphabet book that my mother often read to me. Curiously, I began to read, put sentences together, and stutter all at about the same time.
My own personal memories of stuttering go back to age 4. By that time, I was fully aware that I was having difficulties in speaking, and that nearly everyone who I knew did not. I wondered why that was. But I also knew my cousin who stuttered, and I knew that she had the same problem that I had. So I realized that most people had no problems in speaking, but that some people did (like myself and my cousin).
Also I have distinct stuttering memories from age 4: I remember playing by myself in the basement of our home, having conversations with myself, and role playing. I also remember that I often got stuck on words while playing, and I was aware of a trick of slamming my hands against a wall to release my blocks. When I experienced a block during these play sessions, I rushed to the nearest wall to slam my little hands so my speech could continue.
Decades later I read that people who stutter don’t stutter when alone. I proved that assertion wrong at the age of 4.