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| Experiences Of Those Who Stammer and Non-Stammerers Welcome to the new 'experiences of those who stammer and non-stammerers' page. Here stammerers and non-stammerers will be able to post their experiences. These experiences can be how stammerers deal with day to day situations and what their feelings are about stammer. For non-stammerers this can be how they dealt with coming face to face with a stammer and their feeling about that. Simply use the message box click submit, you will be notified via your e-mail when your message is published
ExperienceI have recently become a graduate of the Mcguire program. I would strongly recommend anybody who struggles with their speech to try this course. I went on the course thinking i wasnt to bad, i had a mild stammer. What the Mguire program teaches you is how to become acceptent of yourself and to fight the fear of stammering by using a number of excellent techniques. I have come on leaps and bounds since the course, although it is not a cure, it has helped me see the postive nature in life. There are courses going on all over the world, in the UK, New Zealand, USA, Norway the list goes on. It is worth the time and effort and make a positive change to your life. Ben, Former student of the Mcguire Programme, 2007.
I took a course recently and it has really helped, if u haven't done a course or are worried about a course coming up, don't be. u will feel so at ease within a day. And u will definatly make new mates. i did!!!! Nicole, Former student of the City Uni SLT Intensive Course
if u do go one try and be urself and just enjoy it
Kassandra, Former student of the City Uni SLT Intensive Course
Thought I'd let you know that earlier in the year I went on a Starfish course in Sussex, which has revolutionised my life. I did have (and still have) a very severe stammer, but after going on course have much more control over my stammer, and am slowly pushing out my personal boundaries as I become more confident in using the technique taught. I'm sure you're aware that like the MacGuire course Starfish uses costal breathing as its basis. The course is a few days and assisted places are available for those on low incomes. The only downside is the course is now fully booked until the end of next year - as there are only limited numbers and one course a month. Andy, Former student of The Starfish Project
My name is Stacy and I have stuttered (as we say in the U.S.) since I was six years old. I have had periods of mild disfluencies followed by periods of severe ones. These swings are often impacted by mood, fatigue, or extreme happiness or tragedy. Because of my ability to relate to others difficulty in speaking due to my own experiences, I have chosen to enter the speech-langauge pathology profession. I am working on my graduate degree at Western Kentucky University. Sometimes the individuals most qualified to treat are the ones that know how you feel. I believe I can use my personal experiences to help others. I want to encourage everyone who has a disfluency to not give up, to remain optimistic, and look for ways you can turn your suffering into something positive. Stacey, Speech-Language Pathologist, USA
I used to stammer quite badly, I could not say my own name or my home address and I could not answer a telephone to say "Hello" I'm not sure if you stammer yourself Derek or whether you just setup the site to help someone but I can tell you now it's still a very misunderstood condition.
I went to speech therpaists who tried to work on the actuall "sounding" of letters and although this "slows you down" it still does not treat the underlying problems of stammering and I firmly believe that all stammerers just have a brain that works too fast for their vocal system. Once I learned to control my speech syllable by syllable I become fluent quite quickly.
I attended a course run my Mr Andrew Bell in Kirkcaldy, Scotland back in 1993. It was not cheap (just under 1000 pounds all up back then!) but it was money well spent. He still operates the course I think, check out the website here: http://www.stammering-cured.co.uk This is my testimonail here: http://www.stammering-cured.co.uk/testimonials/adults.htm
The course is extremely intense, you are not allowed to watch TV or speak to any "fluent" people over 7 days. You basically learn how to talk again. I can't really recall much of the guts of the course except that you learn to deal with probem words and go from there. There is no substitution of words and you are not allowed to skip problem words. You have to introduce yourself everyday until your name becomes familiar.
One thing that does stick in my mind is imagining feeding your words into a pipe, if you tried to put a sentence in there it would get blocked (the stammer) but if you feed each word or part of word into the pipe things will flow smoothly.
If you think about it, most people who stammer say they cannot say words that start with S or D or M, but if you listen to a stammerer they will say "mmmmm" or "sssss" or "dddddd" so they are actually stuck on the next part of the word, like m-um or s-ister or d-ad. So you learn to say "ad" and place the d in front of it. Do you see what I mean?
It took me 10 years to be quite fluent and I still have to use my techniques daily but nobody I work with or know socially has any clue I was slient for nearly 20 years! I still have days where I get exhausted if I have to talk a lot and I sometimes can seem a bit arrogant as I'm "measured" in my responses to people (I don't waste words!), but I don't care, I'm fluent and thats all that matters. My stammer is still part of me and it made me who I am today and I would not change a thing. Having a stammer makes you realise how precious language is and how good it is to just shut up and listen sometimes. Andrew
When you are stammering don't let people put you down, if they laugh just get on with it because you know they are better than the person who is laughing at you.
A few things that work for me when i stammer:
- Speak slower
- Be confident
- If you want to talk, talk don't let anyone get to you
- don't get stressed with your stammer, just move on with a smile on your face.
Mate of Derek's, Paul Smith
I believe that Stammering is caused by the fear of stammering because when i'm talking if i think to myself "i'm going to stammer" i usally do yet if i think "i'm not going to stammer" and i don't think about stammering then 75% of the time i don't stammer.
Problems in school.
If you find talking really hard you can always get your teacher to talk to other teachers. Which i found very helpfull. Especially in a lesson like English were you might have to read outloud. It lets them know that you might stammer when talking to them which is reasuring. Also, i get extra marks in language oral exams because i stammer.
Techniques
When i find myself stammering then i either stop and breath then start again or if it wasn't that noticable just keep going.
I found this out a while ago and it did work: a woman spent £20,000 pounds on a ear piece witch stops her from stammering obviously i'm not going to buy one but everytime i stammer or block i touch my ear and think i've got one of these ear pieces and try again.
If the person knows that you stammer then they won't really think about 'that persons got a stammer' knowing this makes it easier.
If you think your alone then your not i know a loads of people who stammer. You can find books, CD's or DVD's to help stammering in book shops or if your stuck then the Internet like amazon or maybe ebay. | |
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