commentr/StutterFebruary 21, 2022

Content

Happy to share my experience with this sub! So this was 40 years ago, so I only remember parts of it. I underwent almost-daily speech therapy. *Part* of it was making me read lots of books above my grade level, and to take harder English classes. This was to expand my vocabulary, to expand the *different ways* I could say things. They (the doctor and my parents) told me that if I knew I *could* avoid the difficult letters, and if I saw the difficult letters as *options* when talking, it would make me less nervous, less scared to use them, and so less likely to stutter on them. I don’t know if THAT’S the thing that helped most, but it’s something I do recall from that very young age, not feeling trapped into using the difficult letters — feeling much, much less anxious about them. Which (I’m told) helped me a lot on the way to overcoming it.

Themes

Anticipation & AvoidanceCoping & AdvocacyEmotional Experience

Subthemes

Avoidance & SubstitutionPreparation & RehearsalFluency TechniquesAnxiety & Social Judgment