Stuttering

[Hillbeans]

Is there anyone else out there who has a mild case of stuttering or know someone who does? I've always had a very mild stutter, since I was little, however lately I find it's harder to talk. I'm just back from vacation and relaxed, and find that the more relaxed I am, I stutter less, but what's embarassing is that lately I can't even say my name without stuttering.

Has anyone else been through some kind of speech therapy, self-therapy or something else? I know i'll probably always have a stutter, but i'd really like to be able to say my name when i'm introduced to people.

Thanks in advance for any replies, encouragement, etc.

 

[DemonLlama]

My dad has stuttered since childhood. He uses a device that goes behind his ear that helps him. I'm not sure how it works, but I know that it does. Sorry that's so vague. Dad doesn't really like to talk about it, so I've never asked a lot of questions. I do know he's always had a soft spot for Porky Pig because of their shared speech impediment!

 

[AmazingGrace]

My ds10 stutters. He's in speech and doing well. I hardly notice it anymore. It's like it's just a part of him. I do notice that when he's really excited or tired, it tends to get worse. Did you ever hear that James Earl Jones used to stutter?
Are you doing speech therapy for it? Do you self correct? Do you have certain sounds that you stutter with more than others? Whenever my son tries the "W" sound, he draws it out to self correct. It's amost like he's breathing the sound out.

 

[Hillbeans]

Years ago I did speech therapy in school, and luckilly throughout my school years, I barely stuttered. It's just gotten progressively worse this last year. I had an incident at work where in a large group (ie, lets go around the room and say our name) I froze and almost choked on my tongue. Ever since then, I have a very hard time saying my name.

I went to the bookstore the other day to find a book to help, but they had none on the shelf, all were able to be ordered though.

I know I talk fast, which I try and work at, but I really need to be able to help conquer this before it hinders me from avoiding more situations, especially at work.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Just bumping this for the evening folks, HB.

 

[Hillbeans]

Thanks Dan. I took Demon's advice and looked up the ear device, it's called a Fluency Master. I've heard of it before and visited the website. They offer a free video which describes the device. It's apparently tiny like a hearing aid and it helps in some way with the vocal chords and some sort of electric pulse or something/. I called the 800 # and went through the routine with the nice customer service person on the phone (and I didn't even stammer or stutter!)

I'm lucky in the fact that my stuttering is infrequent, but it's getting to the point where it's starting to affect other aspects of my life.

Thanks for the encouragement.