Can someone recommend tips to overcome stammering?

Macca206

Ive read through lots of the forums and sites and they all explain the fundamentals of stammering but I cannot find one to give good practical tips for living with the impact of it.

I have a slight stammer in that I may stumble upon 1 word every 3 or 4 sentences. But as i need to talk non stop at work it gets quite noticeable. I have tried mediation (helped a bit at start then wore off), psychotherapy (same), taking deep breath before beginning to talk, looking up in air before goin to talk, starting sentences with woprds i know i can say (such as "now" or "and").

I only stammer when in work, on phone or when drinking. I was thinking of having aquapuncture to help relieve anxiety but again think this may be a short term solution. If anyone can give me ideas of what they do to cope I would be extremely grateful

sadie9

How long have you had the stammer and did you ever have speech therapy for it? Did you stammer as a child. You could get speech therapy privately if you could afford it. There's no quick fix really to make it go away, the more you try to hide it the worse it will get. Disclosure of the stammer and acceptance of yourself as a stammerer is the way forward really (very difficult, if like most people you have put some considerable efforts into hiding it for most of your life). If you feel you can be open about your difficulties with speaking that would be huge advantage. The British Stammering Association and the American stammering websites have a lot of detailed information on them. There are self help groups operating in Dublin and Galway and Belfast on a monthly basis. Also things like the Maguire programme have been very successful for some people. It is essentially an emotional problem (in my opinion), the more you fear stammering the more you will stammer so you end up painting yourself into a corner. To my mind stammering is little bubbles of emotional information popping up to try and tell us something when we are speaking.

Macca206

Thanks for the reply.. I always had a very slight stammer in that I had it in my head that i couldnt say certain words like thanks or congratulations but it never affected me much except when i was drinking. Its been worse in the last 6 months when ai moved job as I stammer a lot in work and on the telephone but very little outside of that.

In the past 6 weeks Ive tried hypnotherapy (good results at 1st then it tailored off as I got immune to it)

Acupuncture : worked well at 1st then tailored off

Psychotherapy : same

Ive also taken loads of anti stress pills and chinese herbs but it still prevails. Its making me very depressed and calling in sick/cancellign meetings with clients when I fear it is very bad. I just know its in my head as for years I spoke fine and out of work I am fine too. I just need to stop my head telling me "you cant say that word" but cant get my mind to do that for me. Any tips or advice?

Ive tried to get a speech therapist but they are fully booked for months

ParkRunner

http://www.jcbell.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=SF&Product_Code=1080&Category_Code=U

I would recommend you have a look at the dvd above. I recently bought it and it gives a pretty good insight into what to expect from speech therapy. Putting into action the ideas isnt easy to say the least but it might give you a few tips.

"V"

EF wrote: »

http://www.jcbell.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=SF&Product_Code=1080&Category_Code=U

I would recommend you have a look at the dvd above. I recently bought it and it gives a pretty good insight into what to expect from speech therapy. Putting into action the ideas isnt easy to say the least but it might give you a few tips.

Has this worked for you EF? And if so to what degree.

Macca206

EF wrote: »

http://www.jcbell.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=SF&Product_Code=1080&Category_Code=U

I would recommend you have a look at the dvd above. I recently bought it and it gives a pretty good insight into what to expect from speech therapy. Putting into action the ideas isnt easy to say the least but it might give you a few tips.

thanks, will have a look at buying it. What sort of tips does it give..psychological, breathing?

BTW bit of a strange one but ive found chewing gum can help me at times either it must relax me or the chewing regulates my breathing. Not sure why and it isnt 100% effective but does help

ParkRunner

It is working for me anyway but it is not something that happens overnight. The dvd is about 7 hours long so it gives plenty of advice on how to try and tackle a stammer. The basic message he tries to get through is when you get stuck on a sound or are repeating a sound over and over to stop! He says a lot about if you are trying to make an L sound or an S sound you start with those letters and not eh or some other sound. While you may get stuck or blocked on the sound you are trying to make if you slide into the next letter (usually a vowel) the word will just flow out.
It probably sounds a bit alien at the start and you wont be cured from this but it lets you stammer in control, like everyone else.

Macca206

Thanks.. all the books ive read over the last few weeks are defionately hel;ping and the main advice is to not try and hide it or be adraid just to go with it and be more relaxed.

How much was the dvd?

ParkRunner

It was about €20 in total. Theyre a non profit organisation and dont mind the price they quote for overseas postage, it's not correct

Macca206

EF wrote: »

http://www.jcbell.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=SF&Product_Code=1080&Category_Code=U

I would recommend you have a look at the dvd above. I recently bought it and it gives a pretty good insight into what to expect from speech therapy. Putting into action the ideas isnt easy to say the least but it might give you a few tips.

The shipping on it is very dear..is there a cheaper place to get it? Cant seem to fins it anywhere else and shipping is 3 times the cost of dvd itself!

Esel

EF wrote: »

It was about €20 in total. Theyre a non profit organisation and dont mind the price they quote for overseas postage, it's not correct

Sorry for being 'bold'!

Macca206

esel wrote: »

Sorry for being 'bold'!

Thanks..so I just email them and request a different postage amount?

ParkRunner

Macca206 wrote: »

Thanks..so I just email them and request a different postage amount?

I think it cost me about €5 or less even for postage. They are usually pretty fast with email queries so maybe ask them to get a proper quote but the price they quote online is way off. Even if you buy it at the high price they adjust the amount you are actually charged

Mr Benevolent

The two main things that help fluid speech are:

1) Relaxing
2) Singing

I'm serious about the singing. Singing involves saying a whole line in one breath. Everyone can sing without stammering, just use the same technique for talking.

And relax a bit more!

ImmortalOne

Have you ever heard of the McGuire program? It's designed for adult stammerers. I did about a few months a go and it changed my life completley. One problem I had was that I simply wasn't breathing properly. They teach you the basic cycle of speech:

1. Pause (up to 5 seconds)
2. Breathe in through mouth
3. start talking using deliberate blocks (The c-cat was scared, etc.)
4. then push out any residual air.

Take no less than 5 seconds between each breath. Seriously, that's the foundation of the program, it's brilliant. you also need to push out your comfort zone, by doing things you'd never of done before, like making a lot more phone calls, overcoming feared words etc. But in the end, it's up to you, only you can put in the effort and be courageous.

The link: http://www.stammering.ie/

Good luck with it anyway.

Macca206

ImmortalOne wrote: »

Have you ever heard of the McGuire program? It's designed for adult stammerers. I did about a few months a go and it changed my life completley. One problem I had was that I simply wasn't breathing properly. They teach you the basic cycle of speech:

1. Pause (up to 5 seconds)
2. Breathe in through mouth
3. start talking using deliberate blocks (The c-cat was scared, etc.)
4. then push out any residual air.

Take no less than 5 seconds between each breath. Seriously, that's the foundation of the program, it's brilliant. you also need to push out your comfort zone, by doing things you'd never of done before, like making a lot more phone calls, overcoming feared words etc. But in the end, it's up to you, only you can put in the effort and be courageous.

The link: http://www.stammering.ie/

Good luck with it anyway.

So would breathign in through the nose be a contributory factor?

ImmortalOne

Macca206 wrote: »

So would breathign in through the nose be a contributory factor?

As a stammerer you have to change the way you breathe. You must breathe through the mouth at all times except when sleeping or eating (obviously). This way you breathe through your costal diaphragm instead of your crural diaphragm. If you change this, you'll notice something different. This helps, but the most important part is to be assertive and to pause before answering a question, or talking and taking your time. If the other person doesn't have the understanding to wait, so be it. They're not worth it.

We also must do breathing exercises every morning for 20 minutes. that really helps. i find i have a crappy speech day if I don't. It's all about looking at it like a sport, and working at it.

Stammerers seem to forget to be assertive and demand respect from their listeners. For me, most people (even my family) would look at the ground and and everywhere but you, which you don't deserve. Look into the course and apply for it. It's €1,100, but if you cant afford it, the state can help.

SimpleSam06

ImmortalOne wrote: »

As a stammerer you have to change the way you breathe. You must breathe through the mouth at all times except when sleeping or eating (obviously).

Wow. Do people really buy that? It is physically impossible to change the way an autonomous function like breathing works on a regular basis, not to mention it is biologically that way for very good reasons (nosehairs aren't there for fun). At best this will provide an ongoing distraction to anyone who might otherwise focus on stammering.

Don't change how you breathe.

What I found works for me is, the only way to win is not to play. Your mind is an incredibly sophisticated thing, capable of staggering levels of complex behaviour without even trying. Stammering or stuttering is more like the mind capriciously trips itself up for whatever reason. The more "tricks" you come up with, the more the mind circumvents them. Anyone with a stammer knows this to be true. So you need to put the very fact that a stammer might exist anywhere in the world at all out of your head.

Its a weird and difficult sort of thing to do, takes lots of time to perfect, and you might say that my very posting in this forum could be construed as going against that concept, but it is possible to remain psychologically detached while discussing it, although its not a laugh a minute.

And it does work, although as always, ymmv.

MindHelp

Hi Macca
I am interested in that you have tried Hypnotherapy

There are two forms suggestion therapy which is only good for short term result and/or for really small issues.

If you did this type of therapy and the stuttering came back is a very good indicaiton that you need the other form of therapy. (1 to 3 session normally).

The other form of therapy is analytical hypnotherapy which looks for the root cause and is very success with this kind of condition. (normally 8 to 10 session)

Another indication that you need analytical therapy would suit if the stutter came on at certain time like under stress.

Hope this helps
MindHelp