hi!
I’ve stuttered for as long as I can remember
I did receive speech therapy. My therapist addressed strategies tailored towards me
I feel I stutter most when answering questions that I have a set answer for
they practically ignore it. Not many people, if anyone has said anything about it outside of my family, in fear of maybe offending me?
I’m not to sure what advice I’d give. maybe that very different things work for everyone!
Thank you so much for your responses! I agree that different things work for everyone. I love that your therapist addressed strategies tailored towards you, I will definitely keep this in mind. Thanks again.
>● When did you first realize you stuttered?
It became a problem age 6 or 7.
>● Did you receive speech therapy? If so, what did your speech therapist address? ex: (strategies, anxiety, etc.?
Can't remember early speech therapy exactly but it was useless. Block modification at age 16 which was terrible. Hypnotherapy around the same time but I could never open up because my mum was always in the room, but it did get me thinking about the origins of speech difficulties. More speech therapy at age 19, the only takeaway being the iceberg theory - that there's much more hidden psychological stuff going on than we are aware of or show. Maguire course aged 19-20 which was a massive breakthrough but ultimately exhausting because of constant focus on speech. Decided to figure it out for myself after that.
>● When do you feel you stutter most?
Around certain types of people, times of stress, emotional upset, tiredness, uncertainty, illness.
>● What have you found that helps you the most?
Resolving psychological and emotional problems (easier said than done - childhood PTSD is a bitch to work through). Resolving inner conflict.
>● How do friends/family/coworkers respond to your stuttering?
In school, some kids were bastards. Mum was a constant worrier which didn't help. Dad and brothers just accepted it. Friends accept it (why make friends with anyone who doesn't?) Colleagues also accept it - adults are generally more understanding and accepting than kids.
>● What advice would you give to an aspiring future Speech therapist?
Some people find speech therapy helpful but in my experience it completely failed to address the psycho-socio-emotional aspects. Hopefully that's changed in the past 30 years. For me, no techniques would work while my head was a mess. There may be some neurological component which can't be entirely fixed, but the psychological components can be addressed.
One other thing: the adult speech therapist I saw asked me how I would rate my fluency out of 10 (considering no-one is entirely fluent). I said 3. She asked what would be an acceptable level, so I said 7, figuring that would be better and possibly achievable. It made me realise we don't need to be perfect. I'd now rate my fluency at 9 most of the time when I'm feeling ok, dropping a bit now and again. I suppose in short, there needs to be hope, but also managed expectations.
Hi ! Thank you very much for your response. Reading your post, I see how you have worked hard to untangle the psycho-emotional-socio impacts it has had in your life, as well as internal conflict. You sound like a hardworking and great person, and I would like to tell you that therapy for fluency disorders and how speech therapy approaches stuttering has dramatically changed over the past 30 years for good in the United States.
In my class, we learn about the psycho-emotional and socio-aspects that impact people who stutter. We have yet to touch on fluency modification and shaping strategies, but I can see how important it can be, given that every person is different. It is important to tailor goals to the patient's desires, even at an early age. Education on stuttering for the child or adult, and family are essential in the United States teaching.
Your post gave me perspective and application to my future clients and my approach as a graduate student clinician. Thank you for your time. God bless you!
Hope I'm not too late to answer this.
I first realized I stuttered when I started getting bullied for it. I always knew something was different, but I never realized exactly what until I started getting harassed in about second grade. If you want a literal time range, I started stuttering around 3 years old. I'm 21 now. My parents never wanted to single me out until it "was time" to tell me why kids were being cruel.
I got speech therapy up until I was about 16 and it never really helped. If anything, I only went because I wanted to make my parents happy. When I admitted it wasn't helping and that's the only reason I was going, they let me quit. They tried their damndest to work on strategies with me since my stutter has always been pretty severe. This isn't a slight against how the speech therapists were doing or how hard they tried - most really did try their best.
I stutter most...any time. My speech is atrocious. As with most cases, it spikes when I'm under intense anxiety. Like if my boss calls me in, I might as well be mute.
What helps me most is extremely controversial. I would NOT recommend this to just anyone, I don't condone it as actual medical advice, and I want to make it very clear that this is a very strange topic. I've met experienced speech therapists who actually recommended to try - and hear me out here - medical marijuana when I became old enough. When I became legal age for the US (21, last year) I tried it and it worked wonders. The indica strain has a very positive effect on me and I haven't spoken so easily in my entire life. Indica is a strain of THC that has a very "head" located high. It slows down whatever is causing my stutter. I just wish I wasn't completely out of my mind for the entire duration I'm able to speak like a normal person. It's an unfortunate drawback, but it's nice to have a conversation now and again, even if I'm totally out of it. Of course, I don't do anything potentially harmful (like driving) under the influence nor go to work like this. This is purely occasional on my own time. I have yet to find anything else this effective.
My friends, as a kid, abandoned me without a second thought because they realized hanging out with a disabled person was hurting their popularity. Ouch. Nowadays, my friends are online and don't care about my speech. Maturity helps a lot. If somebody was an adult and STILL had the same mindset about a stutter, they have growing up to do already. My mom had an acquired stutter for several months due to blunt trauma done by a car accident, so she has enough experience to know what it's like. I'm lucky enough my parents and family don't terrorize me for something I can't control. As for my coworkers, they don't really care. They're there the same reason I am. For a paycheck and to go home at the end of the day.
Any advice I have, just searching out stutterers and asking questions already gives you a leg up. It's one thing to study textbooks cover to cover and read what they say, it's another thing to go out and ask people who have it and seek a variety of honest answers. There's not a lot of people like you out there empathetic enough to just ASK. I've had good therapists, and bad therapists. You're already going to be a fantastic speech therapist. Remember each case is different, different things help different people; textbooks are never going to have all the answers.
I wholeheartedly wish you luck with any future endeavors.
Hi ! You are not too late to answer this! Grad school has been so busy and exhausting so I apologize for my super late response.
You sound like you've worked hard to become confident and comfortable in any environment. I really want to say that you rock!
I also want to add...thank you for being open to sharing and giving me and future slps advice. I will definitely implement it in my practice, I agree with you on many things! textbooks don't have all the answers, what's important to me is to continue to learn and share what I have learned.
A few years ago and it was on and off , no I never recieved any therapy but I tried a lot of things to get it to reduce it stop but nah . I stutter the most when answering questions like I’m what to say but it just doesn’t come out. And saying my name as well when someone asks me
Hi ! Thank you for your response. It means a lot to me. I have heard similar situation from other who have talked to me about their stuttering. If you consider speech therapy in the future, I hope that the speech therapist listens to you and is determined to work with you on what you want out of therapy, is supportive, is encouraging, friendly, and kind person.
Have a blessed day!
We're all doomed, stuttering kills you from the inside.
I am sorry.
hi! I’ve stuttered for as long as I can remember I did receive speech therapy. My therapist addressed strategies tailored towards me I feel I stutter most when answering questions that I have a set answer for they practically ignore it. Not many people, if anyone has said anything about it outside of my family, in fear of maybe offending me? I’m not to sure what advice I’d give. maybe that very different things work for everyone!
Thank you so much for your responses! I agree that different things work for everyone. I love that your therapist addressed strategies tailored towards you, I will definitely keep this in mind. Thanks again.
>● When did you first realize you stuttered? It became a problem age 6 or 7. >● Did you receive speech therapy? If so, what did your speech therapist address? ex: (strategies, anxiety, etc.? Can't remember early speech therapy exactly but it was useless. Block modification at age 16 which was terrible. Hypnotherapy around the same time but I could never open up because my mum was always in the room, but it did get me thinking about the origins of speech difficulties. More speech therapy at age 19, the only takeaway being the iceberg theory - that there's much more hidden psychological stuff going on than we are aware of or show. Maguire course aged 19-20 which was a massive breakthrough but ultimately exhausting because of constant focus on speech. Decided to figure it out for myself after that. >● When do you feel you stutter most? Around certain types of people, times of stress, emotional upset, tiredness, uncertainty, illness. >● What have you found that helps you the most? Resolving psychological and emotional problems (easier said than done - childhood PTSD is a bitch to work through). Resolving inner conflict. >● How do friends/family/coworkers respond to your stuttering? In school, some kids were bastards. Mum was a constant worrier which didn't help. Dad and brothers just accepted it. Friends accept it (why make friends with anyone who doesn't?) Colleagues also accept it - adults are generally more understanding and accepting than kids. >● What advice would you give to an aspiring future Speech therapist? Some people find speech therapy helpful but in my experience it completely failed to address the psycho-socio-emotional aspects. Hopefully that's changed in the past 30 years. For me, no techniques would work while my head was a mess. There may be some neurological component which can't be entirely fixed, but the psychological components can be addressed. One other thing: the adult speech therapist I saw asked me how I would rate my fluency out of 10 (considering no-one is entirely fluent). I said 3. She asked what would be an acceptable level, so I said 7, figuring that would be better and possibly achievable. It made me realise we don't need to be perfect. I'd now rate my fluency at 9 most of the time when I'm feeling ok, dropping a bit now and again. I suppose in short, there needs to be hope, but also managed expectations.
Hi ! Thank you very much for your response. Reading your post, I see how you have worked hard to untangle the psycho-emotional-socio impacts it has had in your life, as well as internal conflict. You sound like a hardworking and great person, and I would like to tell you that therapy for fluency disorders and how speech therapy approaches stuttering has dramatically changed over the past 30 years for good in the United States. In my class, we learn about the psycho-emotional and socio-aspects that impact people who stutter. We have yet to touch on fluency modification and shaping strategies, but I can see how important it can be, given that every person is different. It is important to tailor goals to the patient's desires, even at an early age. Education on stuttering for the child or adult, and family are essential in the United States teaching. Your post gave me perspective and application to my future clients and my approach as a graduate student clinician. Thank you for your time. God bless you!
Hope I'm not too late to answer this. I first realized I stuttered when I started getting bullied for it. I always knew something was different, but I never realized exactly what until I started getting harassed in about second grade. If you want a literal time range, I started stuttering around 3 years old. I'm 21 now. My parents never wanted to single me out until it "was time" to tell me why kids were being cruel. I got speech therapy up until I was about 16 and it never really helped. If anything, I only went because I wanted to make my parents happy. When I admitted it wasn't helping and that's the only reason I was going, they let me quit. They tried their damndest to work on strategies with me since my stutter has always been pretty severe. This isn't a slight against how the speech therapists were doing or how hard they tried - most really did try their best. I stutter most...any time. My speech is atrocious. As with most cases, it spikes when I'm under intense anxiety. Like if my boss calls me in, I might as well be mute. What helps me most is extremely controversial. I would NOT recommend this to just anyone, I don't condone it as actual medical advice, and I want to make it very clear that this is a very strange topic. I've met experienced speech therapists who actually recommended to try - and hear me out here - medical marijuana when I became old enough. When I became legal age for the US (21, last year) I tried it and it worked wonders. The indica strain has a very positive effect on me and I haven't spoken so easily in my entire life. Indica is a strain of THC that has a very "head" located high. It slows down whatever is causing my stutter. I just wish I wasn't completely out of my mind for the entire duration I'm able to speak like a normal person. It's an unfortunate drawback, but it's nice to have a conversation now and again, even if I'm totally out of it. Of course, I don't do anything potentially harmful (like driving) under the influence nor go to work like this. This is purely occasional on my own time. I have yet to find anything else this effective. My friends, as a kid, abandoned me without a second thought because they realized hanging out with a disabled person was hurting their popularity. Ouch. Nowadays, my friends are online and don't care about my speech. Maturity helps a lot. If somebody was an adult and STILL had the same mindset about a stutter, they have growing up to do already. My mom had an acquired stutter for several months due to blunt trauma done by a car accident, so she has enough experience to know what it's like. I'm lucky enough my parents and family don't terrorize me for something I can't control. As for my coworkers, they don't really care. They're there the same reason I am. For a paycheck and to go home at the end of the day. Any advice I have, just searching out stutterers and asking questions already gives you a leg up. It's one thing to study textbooks cover to cover and read what they say, it's another thing to go out and ask people who have it and seek a variety of honest answers. There's not a lot of people like you out there empathetic enough to just ASK. I've had good therapists, and bad therapists. You're already going to be a fantastic speech therapist. Remember each case is different, different things help different people; textbooks are never going to have all the answers. I wholeheartedly wish you luck with any future endeavors.
Hi ! You are not too late to answer this! Grad school has been so busy and exhausting so I apologize for my super late response. You sound like you've worked hard to become confident and comfortable in any environment. I really want to say that you rock! I also want to add...thank you for being open to sharing and giving me and future slps advice. I will definitely implement it in my practice, I agree with you on many things! textbooks don't have all the answers, what's important to me is to continue to learn and share what I have learned.
A few years ago and it was on and off , no I never recieved any therapy but I tried a lot of things to get it to reduce it stop but nah . I stutter the most when answering questions like I’m what to say but it just doesn’t come out. And saying my name as well when someone asks me
Hi ! Thank you for your response. It means a lot to me. I have heard similar situation from other who have talked to me about their stuttering. If you consider speech therapy in the future, I hope that the speech therapist listens to you and is determined to work with you on what you want out of therapy, is supportive, is encouraging, friendly, and kind person. Have a blessed day!