Anything that distracts your mind from fear or takes your mind off the anticipation of stuttering will usually give you temporary relief. This is the main reason why stutterers are sometimes misled by tricky procedures such as: - Speaking with a sing-song inflection - Using metronome timing - Talking while tapping a finger - Swinging an arm - Stamping a foot These and many other odd ways of speaking may produce temporary fluency. Just thinking about how to use them when you anticipate trouble shifts your attention away from stuttering. They may temporarily blot out thoughts of fear—but they do not result in any permanent reduction of fear or stuttering. Strange as it may seem, almost any new or bizarre technique will temporarily help a stutterer—at least until the novelty wears off—if they have confidence in its effectiveness. --- Excerpt from self-therapy for the stutter. Everything works until it doesn't.