February 28, 2010
How To Achieve Fluency
I have to say that I hated having a stutter. Hate is a very strong word but in a way it does not come close to the way in which this speech impediment affected my life. For example when I spoke to what is now my ex-girlfriend I very rarely had a problem, however when attempting to speak to her parents I struggled quite badly.
I could not understand why I could talk to one person but not to another and why I could speak when I was drunk but not when I was sober. I did attended various forms of stammering treatments but to no avail.
I read many books about speech imediments, achieving fluency and about how to stop stammering, about a potential stammering cure and spoke to many speech therapists. From what I read and from what I was told, I was made to believe that I was unable to live a stuttering-free life as it suggested you are unable to eradicate a stutter. This was not really the form of stammering advice that I was looking for; I wanted specialised therapy etc.
This is a very negative attitude, however I could not really believe what I was hearing and reading as I knew I could talk very well at times.
Bruce Willis was one the television during one evening - he was being interviewed by one of the famous chat shows. He stated that he had had a stutter which had started when he was a young boy, however he had managed to achieve fluency when he was a late teenager. I felt inspired and then decided that the time had come when I needed to try to also achieve total fluency.
I was eventually able to eradicate the stutter. It was far from easy and I was assisted in a big way by a 70 minute self-help stuttering therapy DVD that I bought from The How To Stop Stuttering Centre. I now have a much more fulfilling life and I also have a successful career selling front doors.
Stuttering can be overcome with hard work and a lot of desire; if I can do it then so could you.
Tags: achieve fluency, stop stuttering, Stop Stuttering Centre, stutter, stuttering, stuttering treatmentRelated posts
January 18, 2010
It Is Not Fair - Why Have I Got This Health Problem?
A few years ago I moved to a new area and of course next to a new neighbour who happened to be in her late sixties. She was such a negative person, very rarely smiled and seemed to moan about almost everything. She is called Nancy.
When I first moved to this particular area, I tried to make friends with the people who lived close to me, this was fairly easy as I sold front doors as well as offering a DVD authoring service for a living which was a kind of excuse for talking to them. When I first met Nancy she kept saying how ill she felt and about how her back was playing her up. I went away from this meeting feeling quite sorry for Nancy.
About a month later I met Nancy again. I asked her in a very positive and upbeat way, how she was. This was something which I later regretted asking as she then started wittering on about the many problems that she seemingly had in life. She did not have one happy thing to say. Over the next few years of living by Nancy, I actually went out of my way to avoid her.
I have to admit that I also used to feel sorry for myself. I grew up with a speech impediment known as a stutter. I often used to wonder as to why I was given this problem. It did not seem fair to me as I believed I was a really nice person.
I lived with the stuttering problem until the age of twenty-two and then began to have a change of attitude. I started to focus on the many people in the world who had it far tougher than I did; by just looking and reading about people who live in Iraq and Afghanistan certainly opened up my eyes to a new way of thinking.
When people ask me how I am, I always give a positive answer even if I feel terrible. I try and walk around with a smile on my face and am now living life to the full. I have also managed to overcome that horrible speech impediment and to therefore learn the ways to eradicate stuttering.
People like Nancy could do with having the same change in attitude and they may find they have more visitors to their house and that some of their ailments disappear.
Tags: a really nice person, feel sorry for myself, moan, problems, rarely smiled, stop stuttering, stutteringRelated posts
November 14, 2009
I Need To Break Free From Stammering
Mum, I could really do with your help. What is wrong Steve? It is my speech; I know I try and make out that it does not really bother me too much but this stutter is really starting to get me down. Even what the average person would class as “simple tasks” are beyond me; such as even saying my own name or answering simple questions. I find it virtually impossible to read out in front of the class without stuttering and basically I have had enough.
OK Steve, I can see how upset you are. But what about all of the help that you have been receiving at speech therapy? Are you having a laugh? It has been a waste of time Mum, I thought you would have known that. I have been going to see various speech therapists since the age of five, that is ten years now. What has been the result of all of this therapy? I am now worse than ever. So I guess you could say that speech therapy has not exactly proven to be beneficial for me. Yes I agree that the speech therapists themselves are nice enough people but they are not getting paid to be nice; they are getting paid to help people like me. The main problem being is that they just have no comprehension as to what it is like to have this form of speech impediment.
Steve, I can hear your frustration and I understand the points that you are making. I now realise just how stupid my question about the speech therapy was - I am sorry Steve. It is now time to look for an alternative form of therapy; what we need is specialist stuttering treatment.
The above was a conversation that I had with my mother when I was aged fifteen. Stuttering at this stage of my life was no laughing matter; I was desperate to achieve fluency and I knew in my heart of hearts that my future depended on it.
Over the next few years, with the help of my supportive family, I worked extremely hard to eradicate the stutter from my life. At the age of twenty-two I finally achieved my goal of fluency – it was sure worth the wait – now my life could really begin.
Tags: specialist stuttering treatment, speech therapist, speech therapy, stutter, stutteringRelated posts
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October 23, 2009
A Potential Cure For A Stutter
Are you looking for techniques that can help you to eradicate your stutter? Has speech and language therapy or pathology been unable to help you to the levels that you require? Have you had enough of accepting second best in life? The above three questions are ones that I would regularly answer in the positive during the eighteen years when I had a stutter. I have to admit that I was forever in search for a cure for stammering and stuttering.
Now I am fully aware to call it a stuttering cure is not exactly what some people would call the “correct English” but I basically was looking for a way or a set of techniques that could enable me to “stop stuttering”. At there time there were not that many stuttering therapies out there, or at least not ones that were worthy of the name.
I always find it strange when I read about the so called National Associations for Stuttering or Stammering. For some reason they seem to always advise people to attend local speech and language therapy. Well that is a great referral! What is the point of asking people to attend speech therapy, something that has been unable to help them in the past? Speech therapy does not work for people who stutter, well not to the levels that they desire - again to stop stuttering completely and let’s face it anything else is to accept second best.
I searched high and low in my quest to find the solutions to stuttering. I read many a book, asked many a question and studied many of the “best talkers”.
I put in a massive amount of effort, hard work and dedication as that is what is required. The majority of people are fully aware and accept that there is not one magical pill that can cure a stutter. What is required is a desire to succeed and a willingness to work hard to ensure that the techniques become second nature.
There is now a seventy-minute film which has been produced by a DVD replication company in association with The How To Stop Stuttering Centre which has full explanations of the techniques required to achieve fluency.
Tags: solutions to stuttering, speech impediment, stutter, stuttering, The How To Stop Stuttering Centre