Shocking and Interesting Facts about Stuttering

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How do people usually react when they hear someone stutter? They most likely make fun of the stuttering person. And how do people usually perceive someone who stutters? Stupid, dumb, or even good for nothing. A person’s competence or personality is always judged based on how good a speaker he is. That is a sad reality for many people who tend to stutter. Whether you are among the 1 percent of the world’s population that stutters or not, it helps to know and understand the basic facts about this speech condition to put things in a better perspective. This is especially helpful for parents with children who stutter.

The following are some of the essential and interesting facts about stammering that people should know:

• Individuals who stutter are normal, as they lack only the ability to express words fluently. They are not mentally incapacitated as what others perceive them to be. Stutterers can be as smart as non-stutterers are.

• Speech disfluency typically begins at the age of two to five.

• Boys are four times more likely to stutter than girls.

• The real cause of stammering has not yet been determined.

• Speech disfluency runs in families, leading scientists to believe that this condition can be hereditary.

• A lot of well-known people in the field of politics and entertainment stuttered and were able to cope with their speech difficulties. The world’s famous stutterers include actress Marilyn Monroe, British politician Winston Churchill, King George VI, author Lewis Carroll, musician Carly Simon, and former U.S. president George W. Bush.

• For many people, stammering gives them a feeling that their speech is way beyond their control. Such a feeling makes them worry and disturbed about their self-image, causing them to feel ashamed of themselves and to be extremely anxious every time they speak. Their tendency to stutter also makes them fear talking in front of others.

• The anxiety that a person feels boosts the intensity and frequency of stammering. This creates a cycle that only escalates the condition.

• Stammering behaviors develop and change in a person’s entire lifespan. Most people who stutter experience variations in the level of their speech problem. There are times when they stutter frequently, while at other times, they stutter just a bit.

• In children, there are times when stammering seem to disappear on its own, but it goes back later on a more severe level.

• About 80 percent of toddlers who stutter will eventually outgrow their speech disfluency. The remaining 20 percent of these children continue the speech condition for the rest of their lives. These children tend to talk very fast and struggle to say words that seem to stuck. This behavior increases the likelihood of stammering in later years.

People with stuttering problems are often misunderstood, and this make the problem worse for them. It is important that you know how to deal with and help your family members or friends who stutter so that they will be able to cope better with their condition.
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Relaxation Technique in Treating Stuttering

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...The F. M. Alexander Technique

Along with varied therapies and programs designed to treat stuttering, one method is based on the premise of developing and controlling self-awareness, movement, balance, support and coordination. This is called the F.M. Alexander Technique.

The F.M. Alexander Technique is a psychological approach used in treating stuttering. Worth noting is that it is not a treatment specific to stuttering or to any disorder. It is a method of improving ease and freedom of movement. It teaches to use the appropriate amount of effort exerted in certain activities. However, the F.M. Alexander Technique is not or limited to a series of exercises; it is a reeducation of the mind and body.

It was named after its developer F. Matthias Alexander, who initially developed it as a technique for vocal training for singers and actors in the late nineteenth century. While developing this system and with varied experiments, F.M Alexander realized the importance of naturally functioning respiratory mechanism in a well-functioning physical body.

He introduced a technique, which he called the reeducation of breathing mechanism. Hence, many medical doctors eventually recognized such innovative perspective during those times. F. M. Alexander also discovered that breathing and vocalization are essential component of how body functions well. Take for example the habitual breathing and vocal patterns. Both are crucial aspects of habitual patterns of general bodily coordination. Coordination includes posture, breathing, movement, and tension patterns.

As such, he eventually developed a method that teaches patients to change consciously their maladaptive habits of coordination. F. M. Alexander found out that habits are generally psychophysical in nature, be that physical or mental habits. This is because he realized that the mind and body function are integrated entity rather than working individually.

In addition, he observed that one’s perspective towards his activities determines how he coordinates himself to those activities. At the same time, long-practiced habits of too much tension and inefficient coordination affect vocal training. The method of breathing reeducation and then a comprehensive technique of psychophysical reeducation help solve the difficulties.

Thus, the F. M. Alexander Technique aids stutterers to develop more awareness and control in their activities. This came from the premise that the difficulties people experience in many levels such as learning, control of performance, and physical functioning are caused by unconscious habits. As such, these unconscious habits interfere with the natural poise and the capacity to learn. Therefore, the technique teaches a person to eliminate such interference in the innate coordination of the body creating greater self-confidence and presence of mind.

Therefore, finding out about vocal technique and breathing problems, many of his students developed therapeutic mechanisms in solving various problems including stuttering. They followed his premise on breathing mechanisms and respiratory technique.

However, one should keep in mind that the F. M. Alexander Technique does not treat a passive patient. Positive results will yield from conscious eliminating of harmful habits that cause physical and emotional stress. Both American educational philosopher John Dewey and Nobel-prize-winning scientist Nikolaas Tinbergen recognized such technique as an effective aid in improving physical and psychological well-being. Thus, it is now used as a combination therapy in treating stuttering.
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Nature and Causes of Stuttering

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~Stop Stuttering Now~
There is no single cause of stuttering to date. Many researchers have come out with varied results—some psychological basis and others neurological causes. There is another field that says stuttering is a homogenous disorder but this is yet to be disputed. It says that stutterers suffer from one underlying problem. Nevertheless, popular theories are based on heterogeneity of the disorder.

One theorist has argued that since there no measurement and causes of fluency, it is harder to define the causes of abnormality. For a long time, theorists believed that the concept of stuttering was an outgrowth or exacerbation of normal disfuency. Yet, these premises and models are still subjected to further experiments and studies.

~Stop Stuttering Now~
To further aid in the study of stuttering, theorists tried to categorize and make a sub-group of people who stutters. First is the severity as a grouping variable. Many studies used this sub-grouping with so far mixed results of analyses. Meanwhile, the intriguing sub-grouping of Van Riper described four tracks in the development of shuttering.

The model of fluent speech production presents two important points in understanding the categories of stuttering. First, stuttering shows a failure in temporal processing. Second, stuttering shows an imbalance between the capacities of the fluency generating system and demands of the environment.

Following the model of fluent speech production, hypothetical types or sub groups in stuttering are formulated. First, the speech motor control sub-groups which have two distinct groups called dyspraxic stuttering and respiratory control stuttering. The first is characterized by phonological and fluency problems thus causing delays in the appearances of intelligible words and sentences, articulation problems, and slow speech rates.

For example, some adults have the difficulty of pronouncing longer words and have inconsistent articulation errors. Thus, stuttering occurs on longer and unfamiliar words.

~Stop Stuttering Now~
The second one is directly linked to difficulties in voluntary control of muscles of respiration. That is why children who stutter most likely have asthma, allergies, and upper respiratory distress. This disorder is characterized by blocks and unvoiced prolongations.

Some theorists also consider the linguistic processing problems as main etiologic factor. Many children show delayed language development. This general category is called linguistic stuttering. There are three sub-types of group. The first one involves the developmental delays in aspects of linguistic processing. The second one is associated with problems in word finding or retrieval. The third is associated with problems in generation of complex grammatical forms and the last involves problems with auditory processing.

Another sub-group involves the cognitive processes. Problems in this area lead to disfluent speech production. However, one theorist says most likely a person who stutter has cognitive abilities that are superior to their linguistic and speech motor abilities.

Psychologically related factors cannot be eliminated in the sub-groupings of the causes stuttering. Anxiety is an important factor in stuttering. This is a critical factor with respect to severity of stuttering.

Theorists have based these groupings mainly on present results of studies. The sub-groupings of stuttering are yet to be tested and experimented.

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The Normalization of Speech Patterns in People Who Stutter

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Michael Susca, a speech language pathologist, has presented a treatment process for stuttering. He called it the normalization of speech patterns.

He believed that people whom stutter comes from a very heterogeneous group. As such, he designed a program specific only to a certain group of people who stutter, but is applicable to a wide range of age.

Though it is still a working progress, the eligibility of a patient to undergo such program includes many factors such as normal intelligence, recognition of the stuttering problem, current motivation to eliminate the stutter, the absence of a deep or broad "genetic tree" of stuttering, report of a history of fluent communication experiences before stuttering problem to name a few. Patients are expected to meet as many criteria as possible to be appropriate in the program.

His program focuses on fixing underlying problems causing the symptoms and changing physiological processes with emphasis on normal speech and perpetual processes.

The program aims to teach patients to become their own therapists. In addition, it aims to improve their communicative skill through self-perception, volition, effectiveness, and naturalness. Patients are thought to change their self-image into a positive belief system.

It teaches patients to learn the willingness and confidences to begin communication with other people at varied time and place. It further teaches people who stutter to learn to respond, make changes in the environment verbally, and adjust to a new way of effortlessly sounding normal.

Unlike other stuttering programs, Susca’s treatment process does not have particular duration. It changes according to particular patients’ problems, needs, and logistics. However, the treatment sessions usually last for one hour and with a minimum of three times a week. Depending on the progress of patients, treatment sessions are normally reduced to once a week and then to once every other week, to once a month until the termination of treatment.

The first concern of the treatment program is patients’ use of cognitive secondary mannerisms. This process focuses on elimination of the use of avoidances, substitutions, and circumlocutions. The next step concerns with the increase of patients’ awareness of sensory inputs. Usually, patients are asked to go through an exercise that provokes the use or sensory inputs such as proprioception, kinaesthesia, and tactility. This is briefly repeated to develop awareness of sensory parameters in body movements.

Personal assessments are asked from the patients for them to lay out their progress and difficulties. Through continuous recognition of used techniques, patients learn the normal speech patterns and need less exaggerated techniques.

There are major techniques taught in this treatment process. One example is the developing of belly-breathing. This teaches patients about the general dynamics of breathing. In this technique, they are encouraged to use easy belly-breathing while laying their back on the floor.

The other technique is to develop and open throat posture that can be achieved in any one of four methods. This posture emphasizes an open, relaxed, pharyngeal structure through which airstream flows. It causes resonance change; teaches proper speaking posture to aid in reducing stuttering.


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Key Factors to Remember in Stuttering Therapy

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There are myriad of ways to treat stuttering. One should not let stuttering get in the way of their speaking and conversing with other people, especially when one needs to demonstrate emotions.

A very popular treatment in stuttering is the speech therapy. This requires consulting a speech-language pathologist. However, finding the right speech-language pathologist for you is very important for they vary in expertise. Some may work perfectly with young children, while others specialize in problems associated with brain damage.

There are key factors to keep in mind in entering a therapy process. Pathologists and clinicians will not solve your disorder. They will be just key instruments in aiding you to eradicate stuttering. First, you should remember that all stuttering therapies are self-help process. Second, such therapy is long term and full-time process for stuttering affects not only your speech but also attitudes and behaviours. Thus, the third key point is about a therapy that alters speech, attitude and behaviour. Last, be sure to be clear about the process.

Speech therapies are sometimes available at local health clinics or university speech clinics. But do remember that mostly clinicians and pathologists here are graduate students in training. The graduate students also change each semester, so your relationship with your clinician is also changing.

Choosing a clinician and pathologist is another important factor in your therapy process. Vital aspects of time, financial resources, and plans are to be considered here. As a guide in selecting your clinician, here are some key points to look at. This advice is from Hugo Gregory of North-western University, a known speech-language pathologist.

One is the perspective of clinician on how to treat and use a program for his patients. Does he believe in one general type of program or a varied program that fit a particular characteristic of a stutterer?

Second is the content of the program. Does it focus on altering speech or does it include change in thoughts and feelings, or a combination of both?

Third is the process of the program. Does it include mechanisms for modification of stuttering or does it emphasize on learning skills for a stutter-free speech? This is also related to the fourth one. Does the program combine procedures for modifying stuttering with teaching of skills for building fluency?

Fifth is the practical aspect of the program. Does the program ensure a practice of learning from the clinic to real-life situations?

Sixth is the effort of the clinician to understand and link the frustration of the stutterer and his life experiences to be able to map how his patient will succeed in therapy and life in general.

Seventh is the span of time the therapy process will take. Is it short term or it has follow-up program to assist the stutterer in the process of change?

Lastly, has the clinician provided several opportunities for his patients to express their experiences before the therapy, during and after the therapy?

Generally, people who plan for a stuttering therapy should remember that good clinicians are honest, positive in their attitudes, open-minded, informative, and detail disciplined.
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Is There a Cure for Stuttering?

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How Can I Stop Stuttering?
Do you often feel embarrassed whenever your friends make fun of how you speak? For sure, you are wondering if there is any cure for stuttering. Unfortunately, no magic pill or miracle can stop this speech problem.

However, here’s the good news: there are several methods that can help you reduce your tendency to stutter. With sheer determination and commitment, you can use some of these ways to improve your speech over time. Try to be positive—for sure, your efforts will eventually pay off.

The number one rule you must keep in mind when speaking: relax. You will stutter less often when you learn to relax while speaking. Let the words flow smoothly from your mouth. Never force yourself to talk too fast or else you only increase the likelihood of your stammering. Rushing your words only makes you stutter more. While keeping yourself relaxed, take deep breaths before you try to speak. And as you’re speaking, don’t forget to breathe out. Failure to breathe properly while speaking may have its serious consequences, including stammering.

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As you are speaking, try to visualize the words in your mind. This will make it easier for you to speak slowly and fluently. Say each syllable or letter slowly. This tip is very helpful especially for words that usually make you stutter.

On the market today, there are several medications formulated to reduce stammering. These drugs work by affecting the brain as well as the nerves and muscles responsible for controlling speech. However, you cannot use them as a long-term treatment method because of their undesirable side effects.

Electronic gadgets that help people control their tendency to stutter are another option. But instead of aiding people to speak fluently, these devices tend to be disruptive. That is why only a few people use these gadgets along with speech therapies.

That being said, it would be better to rely on the specialists or people who are trained to treat people who stutter.
Of course, you have to consult your doctor or a speech pathologist to check your condition and identify the problem. The doctor can refer you to speech specialists who can treat stammering.

It helps to see a hynotheraphist who will treat your speech condition. A hypnotherapist specializes in using hypnosis to condition your mind in your favor. A speech therapist can also aid you in reducing the frequency of your stuttering. The therapist will train you to enhance your speech abilities by teaching exercises that help you visualize what you are going to say. Speech therapy is one of the most popular ways to treat speech problems such as stammering. Undergoing therapy can cost you money, but it can help you get results after several sessions.

Finally, having more self-confidence greatly improves the way you speak and lessens your stuttering. What does confidence have to do with your speaking abilities? Well, many people stutter a lot whenever they are very nervous or anxious. When you speak in front of people without being anxious at all, you will become more relaxed. And when you are relaxed, chances are you will become more fluent.

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How Yoga Helps Control Stuttering

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1- Stop Stuttering Now
Everybody knows the various health benefits of yoga. This healing system, which originated in India, is well known for its principle of ensuring the harmony of the mind and the body. This leads to yoga being an effective cure for a wide variety of ailments and health problems. However, not many people know that yoga is beneficial as well for seemingly minor bodily conditions such as stuttering and other speech disorders.

At some points in their lives, children and adults experience speech difficulties such as getting stuck on their words. While it seems it is just normal to stutter, this could pose a problem in a person’s day-to-day interaction with other people. If you stumble every time you speak, it would be very hard for you to get your message across. Worse, it can affect your self-esteem and performance in various social situations.

According to Yoga principles, stress has a lot to do with most speech problems. People start to stutter when they become overly stressed. Anxiety is another factor that causes people to stutter. When you are very nervous before you start speaking, your vocal cords become tensed. And when you begin to talk, you will naturally stutter.

Yoga experts believe that the only way to stop people from stuttering is through relaxation. This is where yoga and meditation come into play. Yoga trains people how to relax so that they can speak with much ease. Simple yoga postures and Pranayama, in particular, aid in managing stress and the stammering. When paired with speech therapy (under the supervision of a trained speech therapist), yoga and meditation can effectively reduce the frequency of stammering in people and improve their speech abilities.

2- How Can I Stop Stuttering?,
People tend to stutter if they breathe incorrectly before and while speaking. The proper way to do it is to breathe in deeply before you start to say something and then breathe out while you are talking. Yoga can help you address breathing problems through Pranayama, which is a system that corrects breathing patterns. Pranayama uses the optimum capacity of your lungs so that you can cope with breathing and speech difficulties.

Are you interested in practicing yoga to control your tendency to stutter? The first things you must focus on are recognizing and accepting your speech problem. Then think about all your talents and positive attributes. In doing so, you will have a better perception of yourself. You will be less self-conscious as a result. This positive thinking will greatly help you deal with stress that causes your stammering.

The next step is to practice the following Yoga postures and breathing techniques to make you feel more relaxed:

• Surya Namaskar (sun salutation)

• Progressive relaxation techniques and meditation

• Suksham Vyayama (a relaxing breathing exercise)

• Concentrating on breathing to make it easier for you to deal with stressful thoughts

• Positive attitude for better self-esteem and self-image

• Bhastrika and Nadi Shodhana that help solve breathing problems

• Simhasana (lion pose)

Without a doubt, yoga is an effective way to heal stuttering. It is advised that you practice yoga with the help of a trained yoga therapist to train you about proper relaxation and breathing techniques.

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An Integrative Approach in Treating Stuttering

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1- How Can I Stop Stuttering?

...Generating Fluent Speech

There are several speech therapies aimed at controlling or eliminating stuttering. These therapies vary from what kind of program fits the characteristic of the patient.

One of these therapies is called generating fluent speech. A comprehensive speech processing approach that aims to guide people who stutter to develop a speech processing similar with normal fluent speakers. Developed by Barbara Dahm, it is a therapeutic program for stuttering developed at Communication Therapy Institute in Israel. This has been developed from her several years of experience with people who stutter.

Established in 1987, Communication Therapy Institute is a private clinic specializing in the treatment of stuttering. Barbara Dahm, M.Ed is a speech pathologist who founded and currently heads CTI Communication Therapy Institute.

This program is based on the premised that stutterers use processes for the production speech different from the normal fluent speakers. Thus, the program includes steps in which stutterers relearn the speech production process. Exercises include learning to vibrate their vocal folds in an effortless manner, thus training them to monitor words and speech sounds.

2- Stop Stuttering Now
The program’s exercises aid the stutterers to focus their attention away from the activity. This results to simplified language development process and as such becomes subconscious. Stutterers also learn an uncontrolled speech muscles and makes articulation an automatic process at a rapid rate. It also aimed at making the patients fully understand their speech production system so that they can self-correct their errors. After this program, patients are expected to be confident speakers whatever situations they may face.

The exercises are not intended to teach fluency but train the stutterers to detach from the result of the activity of speaking. Eventually, repetitive and religiously done activities will result to a proficient act of speaking. The goals of learning conscious effort, artificial monitoring speech, and subconscious controls will make stutterers speak effortlessly.

The therapy program is divided into two stages. Children from age 10 and adults will undergo approximately 90 hours of intensive therapy for stage 1. Stage 2 will consist of six months self-help therapy. However, during these times, clinicians will be available depending on the patient’s needs.

Children below age 10 have a different set of stages. Stage 1 comprises a regular scheduled individual therapy sessions until the patient is able to produce speech easily and correctly in conversation and oral reading. Stage 2 consists of shorter and less frequent therapy sessions with self-help and family assisted home therapy.

Results have shown that people learn the process within the three-week period of the first stage. Some patients also testified that through this program, they were able to understand their difficulty in speaking. The program aided them for making self-improvements in their ability to speak fluently.

The research study showed that Generating Fluent Speech is an effective therapeutic program. The results showed that patients developed a stronger sense of self-confidence and relaxing body mechanisms when speaking.

Recently, the findings of latest researches indicated that Generating Fluent Speech is most utilized therapeutic approach in treating several stuttering cases.

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Foolproof Ways to Control Stuttering

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An effective speaker is someone who can speak fluently without any trace of mumbling, rattling, and stuttering. If you speak well, people perceive you as a smart, charismatic person. On the other hand, if you often stutter and cannot express yourself clearly when you speak, people see you as an incompetent and weak person. Between the two kinds of speakers, which would you rather be? Of course, anyone would choose to be a fluent speaker.

However, as much as you would like to be flawless when you speak, there are times when anxiety and nervousness get the better of you. Sometimes as you speak, your tongue seems to trip itself over no matter how hard you try not to stutter. Don’t worry, it is possible to overcome this speech problem if you know the ways to control it.

If stuttering has become more of a habit than an exception to you, here are the steps you can take to curb that habit:

1. Create a mental picture of what you are going to say.

People who frequently stutter fail to visualize the words they intend to say before they start to speak. Worse, most of them have no idea what to say exactly and how to express it verbally.

If you try to picture in your mind what you wish to say, then it will be a lot easier for you to find the right words to use to convey your message. It would be better if you practice visualizing the letters of the word you are going to say as you speak.

2. Perform an aural visualization.

Practice speaking the words you usually find difficult to pronounce. That way, you make it more comfortable for you to speak those particular words. Let your brain hear the words you are going to say. This mental exercise helps you get used to speaking the words that typically cause you to stutter. Stutterers who perform the exercise successfully get more confident when they speak.

3. Avoid pressuring yourself too much.

The more you pressure yourself to speak fluently, the higher your chances of stumbling when you speak. It is because you increase your anxiety and stress when you are pressured, causing you to stutter. Stressing out yourself won’t do you any good—just relax and you will soon get the hang of it.

4. Speak more slowly.

The problem with many stutterers is that they speak very fast and forget to breathe before they start speaking. Take a deep breath before you speak and feel the rhythm of every word that comes out. Speaking too fast can lead to more stammering. So speak in a moderate pace so that you will stutter less often and will be understood by your listener.

5. Speak as though you are singing.

Try this: when you speak, do it in a singing way. Do you feel how much easier it is to speak that way? It is because people tend to stutter less when they sing. So why not use that technique to minimize your stuttering?

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Essential Ideas about Stuttering in Children

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Every parent wants to catch the first words of their children. They are eagerly waiting for the time that their kids can finally talk and express what they want to say through words. It is only normal to feel a bit warned and problematic after learning that they are finding it hard to speak when they are already at the right age. Stuttering is common to younger ones like those in preschool. How would you know that the condition should already be referred to a professional?

If the kid is really young, you must give them enough time and allow them to keep up with their own pace on how fast or how slow they will be able to learn how to talk properly. The best thing that you can do to guide and help them at this point is by talking to them and helping your kids pronounce the words that they are finding hard to say. You must not hurry them to talk straight and right because it will eventually come. They must not feel any pressure whenever they want to say something. You should let them finish what they have to say without any interruptions. Through this, they will be able to practice how to construct their sentences and put words together to be able to verbalize what they want to let other people know.

If they are at the right age or even while they are young but the condition is already hindering their social growth, this is when you should start seeking help by getting them treated by the right professionals. In this case, you can get them checked by a professional speech language pathologist. If you don’t know anyone, you must try to research about similar cases because the results will give you good leads as to the right people that you can consult about the matter.

Normal Phase

This is a phase that everybody goes through as part of speech development. This situation is actually referred to as psuedostuttering or dysfluency, which is only normal and must not raise warning signals. The child is trying to imitate sounds and say the words that express how they feel. This is a new experience for them so it is only natural that they fumble with their words as they repeat syllables, they substitute the sounds of the words, they pause in the process of saying difficult words or they aren’t able to say what they want to.

The more pressure that you will put on them to finish fast with what they want to convey or to prompt them to say the right things, they will stutter all the more. This is because they will feel the pressure. They are already excited as it is with this new phase that they are beginning to learn. It won’t help if you will add any factors to stress them out all the more.

The best way to diagnose if your child’s stuttering is already causing them problems is to give them time and observe how they deal with it. If the condition is not causing them any troubles, then you should leave your worries behind for the meantime.

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Easy to Follow Tips to Get Rid of Stuttering

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Before you hide yourself from the world because you are finding it hard to connect with other people, you must look at the case and help yourself overcome the problem. This is the usual dilemma of adults who have stuttering problems. They fear that others might laugh at them and won’t mind what they are saying, so they choose to back out and lessen their exposure with lots of people. If you can relate with the situation, you must bear in mind that nothing can be achieved if you won’t do anything about it or if you will run away from it all. You must first try to help yourself and seek a professional’s help if the case is already becoming a heavy burden.

A- Stop Stuttering Now
You can start with these simple routines and exercises if you think that the condition is still manageable. Make sure that you act on the problem as soon as you recognize that there really is a problem before it gets out of hand.

1. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. If you are already having problems in conveying your thoughts to other people, it won’t help if you will simply stop talking to them. You need to challenge yourself that you can surpass this and no matter how you fumble at first, you should continue telling people what you want to say.

2. Get out of your comfort zone every once in a while. It is expected that with this condition, you will try to limit your circle to friends, relatives and family members who will not laugh at the manner you speak. But to be able to evolve and succeed in life, you need to learn how to socialize and represent yourself even to people whom you do not know.

3. You have to be comfortable in verbalizing your thoughts to other people. While you are at this stage, you must not feel very pressured to speak in a fluent manner. It doesn’t matter at this point if you are fluent or not. What matters more is how you feel why you are speaking with others. As you try to find your voice and as you begin getting rid of initial nervousness, you will eventually learn to speak in more fluent terms.

4. Another good way to build up your confidence while speaking with other people is by looking them in the eyes. You will feel the connection by maintaining eye contact, and this is also a good exercise to complete your thoughts and ideas.

5. You are already under pressure as it is while you are trying to help yourself get rid of the condition. You must not add any more stress contributors by expecting that you will overcome the problem after some days or even a week or so. This will take time, lots of practice and hard work. You must be determined to finish the task and achieve your goal in the long run.

You must never let stuttering overshadow who you really are. You must find ways to beat it by doing the recommended tricks to help you get past this stage.

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Basic Guide about Stuttering for Parents

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1- Stop Stuttering Now
For parents who are worried about their children who are stuttering, you just have to bear in mind that this is only a phase that they are going through. It may alleviate your feelings to know that about 5% of children in preschool stutter. This phase is referred to as pseudostuttering or developmental dysfluency, which they will eventually outgrow. This may arise from various reasons, the most common of which is the fact that at this point, they are eagerly learning how to talk.

You don’t need to worry because this is only normal, but if the case is already causing problems, like the child feels intimidated in talking to other people or they are exhibiting such for more than six months already, this is the time when you can seek doctor’s help. Out of all cases, only 1% of these children will continue to carry this kind of problem until they get older.

Symptoms

The speech of people with this condition gets interrupted when they make certain sounds longer or repeat syllables, parts or the whole words. It is said that it is more common for boys to acquire such case. This is one kind of a neurological disorder and can be acquired through genetic reasons. If the person has been suffering from this case for more than six months, they must undergo thorough evaluation to be performed by a professional speech language pathologist. You can also consult such even if the patient is a preschooler, but if the condition is not bothering them, you can wait if they will be able to outgrow this.

Available Therapy Techniques

Even if there is not one single cure that has been invented for this condition, there are various treatments that a patient can opt to alleviate the speech pattern defects. These treatments include the following. Once you have consulted a professional, they can give you the appropriate kind based on their findings. For one, they can recommend that your child take medications, although these are not commonly used. They can also be advised to go through a speech therapy, which can be done at summer clinics or at intensive clinics.

2- Stop Stuttering Now
There are some electronic devices that are available these days, which focus on the choral effect and technique of choral speech. With these, the words of the one who stutters are being matched with another voice. There are also devices that are placed in the ear of the child. This tool can replay the words of the child after a brief delay. It is able to copy the choral effect, while decreasing and can completely eliminate the speech defect. Even if these therapies will work at the beginning, the results and improvements won’t be permanent.

There are other basic things that you ought to know about this condition to understand the concept better. Stuttering doesn’t occur as a result of emotional and psychological dilemma. You have to help your child cope with the condition by not interfering with what they are saying. You must allow them to finish what they are saying and make them feel that they are not being rushed into anything.

The "Kill Your Stutter™ Program
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Anti-Stuttering Tips: How to Stop Stuttering

The "Kill Your Stutter™ Program
More than three million Americans stutter. Stuttering occurs normally in children during their speech development years. However, if you’re an adult and you still stutter, then you’ve got to do something about it before your life becomes a total disaster.

In medical parlance, people stutter when their natural flow of speech is hampered by repetitions of syllables, sounds, or words. Some people who stutter find it difficult to start a word when speaking. This speech disorder may be accompanied by symptoms such as shaking of the lips, jaw, or both as well as rapid blinking of the eyes. If left untreated, the condition may cause side effects, which can ruin one’s performance in social situations. People who usually stutter are fearful of speaking in front of many people or even simple interactions such as talking on the phone.

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So how do you control your speech condition? Here are the ways:

* Breathe in deeply before you speak. That way, words and sounds will smoothly flow out of your mouth. Also, learn to exhale while you’re speaking. To help yourself relax before you start speaking, you need to learn some breathing or relaxation techniques. Controlled breathing is crucial in treating speech disfluency. Yoga and meditation prove to be useful for that purpose.

* Refrain from pressuring yourself to speak fluently. The more you pressure yourself, the more anxious you become. And anxiety help increase your chances of stammering.

* Before you speak the words, think about them first. Be sure what words you want to say before you blurt them out. Project the words you want to say in your mind so that they come clearly once you speak. To make that a bit easier for you, try to visualize the letters of every word you are going to say.

* Practice pronouncing words by letter. In doing so, you ease up your speech, making it more comfortable for you to say a word without stammering.

* Speak in a slow and relaxed manner. The faster you talk, the harder it will be for you to speak fluently. Try to sing the words to lessen your chance of stammering. Normally, most people don’t stutter when they sing. So sing your words to make yourself sound more pleasant as you speak.

* When speaking in front of an audience, refrain from looking only at one person. Instead, look above the heads of the people in front of you. Shift your focus on an area at the back of the room (or space, if it is an open area).

* Speak loudly. It may seem to be counteractive because the louder you talk, the more people would notice your stutter. But that’s not completely true. Speaking loudly in fact helps you vocalize each sound of your words properly, keeping you from repeating certain syllables or words.

* Practice, practice, practice. If you frequently stutter, avoiding any situation in which you have to talk will not help you in any way. In fact, it will only worsen your condition because you will never learn how to pronounce words smoothly.
There are many ways to control stuttering. Give them a shot now to gain more confidence when you have to talk to somebody.

The "Kill Your Stutter™ Program
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A Stuttering Modification Process

The "Kill Your Stutter™ Program
It is an intensive interval therapy program for people who stutter. First conducted in 1987 Germany, this therapy program was named after Van Riper from whom it took several of its basic underlying principles of treatment.

It is called the Van Riper Program as Intensive Interval Therapy. It is called interval because of its block schedule system—a five-day duration of segments with six to eight weeks between the segments. It is called intensive because of its long period of session during segments—about eight hours a day.

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The basic principles of this program involve the preference and utilization of stuttering modification approach over a fluency shaping approach. It also considers motivation and relapse as major difficulties in many adult stuttering therapies. In addition, it believes that therapist plays a lesser role in most adult stuttering therapies.

The Van Riper Program is done in a group—about 12 patients with two therapists. This is often conducted in a church-run boarding house. In Germany, the therapists include Andreas Starke, together with Angelika Engert and Bernd Koppenhagen.

There are five weeks overall in the process. The first week focuses on identification. The two major goals in this initial week are improving the understanding of each patient’s stuttering and making patients understand the basic concepts of speech production. This segment involves a video recording of each patient and recorded ten-minute conversational speech and five-minute reading. This is followed by lectures on speech production and analysis of the video recordings.

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The second week focuses on desensitization. The major goal of this segment is to desensitize patients to the expectation and experience of stuttering. This phase include exercises in maintaining eye contact, analyzing reactions to stuttering, and regaining control in stuttering event. In this phase, patients are expected to make modifications in their reactions to stuttering such as avoiding, interjections, and postponing.

The next week uses the cancellation procedure from Van Riper’s technique with introduction and practice processes. This stage teaches patients with slow motion speech with attention given to precise prolongation of natural speed production and the use of pauses. Records have shown that frequency of stuttering have substantial reduction in most patients.

Aside from introduction and practice, the fourth week now employs the pull-outs devised by Van Riper. This is simpler than the process in the previous stage. Patients are trained to gain control of the stuttering event, thus completing the word through slow movement. Most patients rarely have difficulty achieving this process. Often than not, they find such process pleasurable.

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In addition, the fourth week involves less outdoor activities and telephone sessions. However, for ensuring their fluency, a 15 to 20 minute public speech is done as an exercise.

Lastly, the final week involves no exercise anymore. It is more of reviewing the sequence of therapy and instructs the patients to work their way backwards. In addition, the therapists further explain the sources of relapse and discuss specific characteristics of a life of a person who stutter.

In a recent survey, this stuttering modification process has been successful so far in many patients.
The "Kill Your Stutter™ Program
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