INTRODUCTION
Hello there,
My name is Steve Clarkson and I am from New Zealand. My stuttering history, dramas and issues were pretty much standard issue so I will not bore you with the detail.
At the age of forty, 25 years ago I decided I needed to fix the problem.
I have a story to tell of a journey to fluency that is unlike any other that I have been able to find and for that reason I want to share it in the hope that others may find it informative and some hopefully helpful. It was initially a story about finding a way to make stuttering therapy methods stick instead of drifting away which seems to be so often the case. However it started to take on a life of its own.
This was not a quick fix but I found the journey to be an enjoyable one with bonus benefits.
When I started this journey I realised three things familiar to most of us.
I could speak without stuttering in certain situations.
My speech got worse when I was uptight so learning to relax and stay relaxed had to be high on the list.
Trying to insert corrective measures learned in speech therapy whilst in a real speaking situation is extremely difficult.
It seemed to me I was replacing one set of dumb corrective efforts (stuttering) with another set of sensible corrective efforts (speech therapy) but it was still the same method. I was trying to intervene in the subconscious activity between the brain and the vocal apparatus that is speech. In our case a marriage that is in a continual state of breakdown. It occured to me that I was trying to interfere in a lovers tiff and what ensues when you try that is never pretty; both lovers turn on you!
How is stuttering a corrective effort you may ask? Well in the words of speech therapist Mort Cooper we consciously pre-form our mouth, lips or tongue in anticipation of the sound we wish to make and introduce muscular tension.
Speech Therapy techniques such as airflow, smooth speech, soft onsets etc. are about removing that tension.
I had to find a way of introducing those sensible corrective measures, but away from a real speaking situation.
With the help of a library book on relaxation, no internet in those days, I discovered deep abdominal breathing and meditation and some creative thinking led me to visualization, but really I was stumbling in the dark. Had I known what I know now, I am sure the fix would have been quicker. Whilst these three practices have been suggested individually in the past I can find no reports of anyone combining them.
So now being better informed and jargoned up I can describe my methods as mastering best practice breathing, and you will be surprised at the benefits that can come from that. Next came some daily contemplative practice on the breath to induce complete relaxation and focus, with a little mindfulness on the side . I then added visualization as used by top sports people to lift their game.
I was, I realise now, already an expert in visualization , I had just been looking through the wrong end of the looking glass and feeding my stutter.
The ultimate goal of course was to feed the fluency and neglect the stutter untill it was confined to a home for the bewildered! Yes it does come out for a visit occasionally!!
There is a quote attributed to Confucious "Life is really simple but we insist on making it complicated" I believe my story is a simple one and I will attempt to keep it that way, keeping my comment to a minimum whilst providing links to the research and expertise as we go along that give credence to my story. Much of it is from people at some of America's top universities (is that because I use Google?) , and they can explain things far better than I.
It may take a bit of time to view, read and digest it all, but when all taken together, I would have found the science inspirational.
However I would urge you to do your own investigations and form your own opinions.
One thing I have learnt whilst researching this subject is that Newtons Law is alive and well in the area of stuttering recovery, for every opinion there is an equal and opposite one! So I do not expect everyone to agree with my point of view.
Here is a link to get you intrigued, an article from Time Magazine "How the Brain Rewires Itself".
My name is Steve Clarkson and I am from New Zealand. My stuttering history, dramas and issues were pretty much standard issue so I will not bore you with the detail.
At the age of forty, 25 years ago I decided I needed to fix the problem.
I have a story to tell of a journey to fluency that is unlike any other that I have been able to find and for that reason I want to share it in the hope that others may find it informative and some hopefully helpful. It was initially a story about finding a way to make stuttering therapy methods stick instead of drifting away which seems to be so often the case. However it started to take on a life of its own.
This was not a quick fix but I found the journey to be an enjoyable one with bonus benefits.
When I started this journey I realised three things familiar to most of us.
I could speak without stuttering in certain situations.
My speech got worse when I was uptight so learning to relax and stay relaxed had to be high on the list.
Trying to insert corrective measures learned in speech therapy whilst in a real speaking situation is extremely difficult.
It seemed to me I was replacing one set of dumb corrective efforts (stuttering) with another set of sensible corrective efforts (speech therapy) but it was still the same method. I was trying to intervene in the subconscious activity between the brain and the vocal apparatus that is speech. In our case a marriage that is in a continual state of breakdown. It occured to me that I was trying to interfere in a lovers tiff and what ensues when you try that is never pretty; both lovers turn on you!
How is stuttering a corrective effort you may ask? Well in the words of speech therapist Mort Cooper we consciously pre-form our mouth, lips or tongue in anticipation of the sound we wish to make and introduce muscular tension.
Speech Therapy techniques such as airflow, smooth speech, soft onsets etc. are about removing that tension.
I had to find a way of introducing those sensible corrective measures, but away from a real speaking situation.
With the help of a library book on relaxation, no internet in those days, I discovered deep abdominal breathing and meditation and some creative thinking led me to visualization, but really I was stumbling in the dark. Had I known what I know now, I am sure the fix would have been quicker. Whilst these three practices have been suggested individually in the past I can find no reports of anyone combining them.
So now being better informed and jargoned up I can describe my methods as mastering best practice breathing, and you will be surprised at the benefits that can come from that. Next came some daily contemplative practice on the breath to induce complete relaxation and focus, with a little mindfulness on the side . I then added visualization as used by top sports people to lift their game.
I was, I realise now, already an expert in visualization , I had just been looking through the wrong end of the looking glass and feeding my stutter.
The ultimate goal of course was to feed the fluency and neglect the stutter untill it was confined to a home for the bewildered! Yes it does come out for a visit occasionally!!
There is a quote attributed to Confucious "Life is really simple but we insist on making it complicated" I believe my story is a simple one and I will attempt to keep it that way, keeping my comment to a minimum whilst providing links to the research and expertise as we go along that give credence to my story. Much of it is from people at some of America's top universities (is that because I use Google?) , and they can explain things far better than I.
It may take a bit of time to view, read and digest it all, but when all taken together, I would have found the science inspirational.
However I would urge you to do your own investigations and form your own opinions.
One thing I have learnt whilst researching this subject is that Newtons Law is alive and well in the area of stuttering recovery, for every opinion there is an equal and opposite one! So I do not expect everyone to agree with my point of view.
Here is a link to get you intrigued, an article from Time Magazine "How the Brain Rewires Itself".
BREATHING
It is the first and last thing we do! We start off doing it perfectly and we finish .... well lets not go there but it is probably not good. In between times our way of breathing can become corrupted by stress turning us into shallow chest breathers. As breathing is such a fundamental part of life and vital for the production of speech it makes good sense to have our breathing in top notch working order and be doing it as efficiently as we can. Here is a relevant publication from a National Health Service provider in the UK.
Link to Wiltshire NHS breathing advice.
Link to Wiltshire NHS breathing advice.
From the Book "Stop Voice Suicide" by Mort Cooper PhD.
"We have all been told as children to stand up straight, with "chest out, stomach in!" We never really learned why, of course, but the reasoning behind the almost constant reminders was that good posture increased air to the lungs, which, in turn, exercised and expanded our chest muscles, making our blood richer and better.
Unfortunately, that advice was all wrong. Have you ever noticed how a baby's abdomen rises and falls with each breath? Babies breathe as nature intended, from the midsection, without any instruction at all. When you breathe properly, using your midsection (stomach muscles), you relieve tension in the muscles of the lower throat and increase oxygen intake, allowing your voice to project more easily. As your stomach pumps the air up through your mouth and nose, the air reinforces the voice to make it richer, fuller, more resonant, and durable. We cannot talk well without supported, controlled air.
The average person breathes eight to twelve times per minute, more if under stress. The chest cavity is heavy and requires considerable energy to lift up and out. Expanding the chest with every breath is not only pointless, it is exhausting.
MIDSECTION OR DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING
For those who have heard the expression, "Speak from the diaphragm," let me explain the real meaning of the term and its significance. Diaphragmatic breathing is a popular term which means belly breathing, stomach breathing, central breathing, or midsection breathing (or breath support). The diaphragm is a muscle of inhalation which separates the chest cavity from the stomach. Four sets of paired muscles, the rectus abdominus, the transverse abdominus, and the external and internal oblique abdominus, control exhalation; these are a corset of muscles covering the stomach. They are already in place, waiting to be used, if you simply use them properly for breath support. You needn't work out to get them in shape. The expression "Speak from the diaphragm" is a misnomer; we speak from the stomach muscles that control air flowing through the vocal cords for speaking or singing. Few people ever use midsection breath support for speaking; singers use it for singing, but basically not for speaking".
As you can see breathing with the tummy removes tension from the chest and neck area and presumably our easily corrupted speaking apparatus. There are apparently 18 different sets of muscles surrounding the larynx, when they tighten up I can only imagine in fact I think I might know , its like being hugged by an octopus!
To find the muscles to use place your hands just under your ribcage and cough.
Another task a few deep easy breaths can do is calm our inner landscape. Rick Hanson a Neuropsychologist at the Universitiy of California Berkley has written this easily understood article on how the autonomic nervous system works and most importantly how it can be brought under control.
Link to Rick Hanson, Calm and Contented
Another similar article on performance anxiety in sport and I just love the title!
The Neurobiology of Grace under Pressure.
Personally, I practiced the calming easy tummy breath anywhere and everywhere untill it became my instinctive way of breathing. It perplexes me that some speech therapists treat breathing with the casualness they do for the benefits of deep easy tummy breathing are at least fourfold.
To find the muscles to use place your hands just under your ribcage and cough.
Another task a few deep easy breaths can do is calm our inner landscape. Rick Hanson a Neuropsychologist at the Universitiy of California Berkley has written this easily understood article on how the autonomic nervous system works and most importantly how it can be brought under control.
Link to Rick Hanson, Calm and Contented
Another similar article on performance anxiety in sport and I just love the title!
The Neurobiology of Grace under Pressure.
Personally, I practiced the calming easy tummy breath anywhere and everywhere untill it became my instinctive way of breathing. It perplexes me that some speech therapists treat breathing with the casualness they do for the benefits of deep easy tummy breathing are at least fourfold.
- It produces the maximum amount of air for us to work with and releases it in an easy controlled way.
- It takes tension away from the chest and neck area
- It activates and stimulates the Parasympathetic Nervous System providing balance to the autonomic system.
- It inhibits the Valsalva Maneuver which is what we do when we block. Gives the tummy muscles a new job description, Relaxed Expansion instead of Nervous Contraction!
- Dare I suggest it also assists in the rewiring of the brain? Sound crazy? Read on.
MEDITATION
A recent MRI study on the effects of meditation, by a team led by Sara Lazar a Neuroscientist at Harvard University has shown the parts of the brain used for learning and memory, emotion regulation perspective taking and sense of self grew in size after meditation wheras there was a reduction in size of the Amygdala (ie. reduced activity) which as I understand it acts as "the emergency call centre of the brain". We dial 999 a lot!
Sara gives a fascinating TED talk.
Meditation trains the mind to focus and a focused mind is a mind that can learn. In the western world it is a bit like bottled water the flasher the bottle the more they want to charge you and the more extravagant the claims. Water like meditation has huge benefits but they are both essentially boring, to sell it requires exciting packaging. Meditation is a very simple practice of regulating the breathing, clearing the mind of miscellaneous thoughts and focusing on one thing. Mindfulness meditation appears to be the "bottle" of the moment , there are so many interpretations it can be confusing, as you can be mindful without necessarily meditating. Professor in Psychiatry from UCLA Jeffery Schwartz simplifies it all with a talk on Youtube including giving an excellent demonstration of simple breath meditation. Mindfulness is something new to me, but Prof. Schwartz's description of his work in fixing obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) connects it to cognitive behaviour therapy which is something now being used in therapy for stuttering. I could see useful paralells in his four step treatment plan for dealing with deceptive brain messages and cognitive distortions: Relabel; Reframe; Refocus; Revalue.
Jeffery Schwartz talks on mindfulness
I have to admit I felt a little uncomfortable mentioning OCD, but after all people who stutter are compulsive about doing it and obsessive about not doing it. Maybe its a little close to home, silly sensitive perfectionist that I am. There you go, I have relabeled and reframed the thought and myself in one hit? This could be fun! Before somebody jumps on me for making light of a serious subject, I firmly believe being able to laugh at yourself and take ownership of a problem is still possibly one of the best therapies.
A very simple yoga relaxation technique is to tense your muscles with the in breath and relax them with the out breath, starting with the toes and progressivly moving up the body with the different muscle sets. In our case special emphasis can be given to the upper chest and paticularly the mouth and face. This technique was "discovered" by the medical profession in the 1920's by an American physician Edmund Jacobson. It is described as allowing the patient to attend to the components of tension and relaxation that are being experienced and thus by developing a recognition of the tension signals would allow a reduction of tension in daily life. This is about as close as the medical profession come to admitting the benefits of the ancient practice of yoga but they often seem to miss the importance of breathing out as you release tension! The benefit of this practice as I see it in the case of stuttering is the synchronisation of the relationship between the easy flow of air accross the vocal folds and the relaxation of the mouth. _Here is a link with instructions
My meditation efforts to start with just involved a very simple meditation on the breath but I varied it, with breathing as I would for speaking, in with the nose and out with the mouth. As that became a bit boring I added another technique which is visualizing a happy place.
VISUALIZATION
An anonymous quote:
"Visualization for sports training purposes involves seeing and feeling the body perform a sport specific movement perfectly"
Why not sustitute Speech for Sport?
See and feel yourself talking with easy plentiful air and a loose relaxed mouth.
See and feel yourself talking with easy plentiful air and a loose relaxed mouth.
From: quickanddirtytips.com in an article on public speaking.
How Does Visualization Work?
Although visualization has been shown to be more effective than no practice at all, often a combination of mental and physical practice is most effective. To be clear, when I use the term visualization, I’m not talking about getting “psyched up” or “daydreaming.” What I am talking about is creating specific images of reality in your mind.
It turns out that our brain has a difficult time distinguishing between real or imagined exercise. Research led by Professor Alvaro Pascual-Leone at Harvard Medical School in 2007 had participants practice a five finger piano exercise two hours a day for five days, except half of the group was told to only think about practicing (they had to keep their hands still). The researchers used a transcranial-magnetic-stimulation (TMS) testing—the research concluded that both forms of practice (actual and imagined) physically changed the structure of the brain!
In 2004 a group of researchers from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation had a group of people practice flexing their pinky finger, again, some only did mental practice, while others did physical practice, and some did nothing. After 12 weeks of training, here’s what they found: The group that did a physical workout increased finger strength by 53%, the group that did nothing did not improve at all, and here’s where it get’s interesting – the group that only did mental practice showed an increase of 35%.
How to Visualize Effectively? So how can you learn how to do this?
The key to effective mental practice is specificity. Golf legend Jack Nicklaus understood the importance of visualization before most athletes had even heard of it. During his long career, he won 18 major championships. When asked about the level of detail he used during his mental rehearsals, he had this to say about visualization:
“I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. First I see the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes, and I see the ball going there; its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behavior on landing. Then there is a sort of fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality.”
- See more at: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/business-career/public-speaking/the-power-of-visualization-part-2#sthash.4oe7ZufR.dpuf
My Speech Specific Visualization Practice
This was all done without any professional advice as there wasn't any to be had. I am still undecided whether that would be a help or a hinderence as it is possibly a very personal thing, finding imagery that motivates.
The daily ritual was finding a suitable quiet place where I could meditate a little on the breath to become relaxed and focused. Usually flat on my back on the bed. Yes it was hard work! The purists recommend sitting upright so you don't fall asleep...killjoys!
My meditation would then shift to a "happy place" which in my case evolved as a mountain stream where I could imagine it bubbling its way around the rocks, pools and other natural features that I saw as my larynx, vocal chords, tongue and lips. The water was the airflow and the noise my speech.
Now what causes the blockages and dams in that peaceful picture? It is the flotsam and jetsam from the frequent mountain storms. The storms of self doubt,anxiety and preparation that blew up immediately proir to opening my mouth.
I then visualized my speech as a free flowing mountain stream, no storm debris whatsoever! I saw and felt my tongue and lips as inert objects to be rolled about by the water flow with the waterbouncing off them to produce wonderful speech.
The imagery of a mountain stream is of a beginning as you get downstream with your improvement the image can be turned into an unstoppable river!
Whilst still in a relaxed and focused state I would start to introduce silent speech on the out breath , getting the feel (what my tongue, lips and airflow were doing) of speaking different hard to say phrases such as my name or phone number, starting slowly and silently at first and gradually increasing volume and speed untill I was speaking normally. It is surprising how easy this is when you are totally relaxed and there is plenty of air. Once I became familiar with this visualization I could conjure up the feeling of a loose mouth immediately before a real speaking situation. I practiced at first reading short written passages to friends family and work collegues as opportunities arose.
This was all done without any professional advice as there wasn't any to be had. I am still undecided whether that would be a help or a hinderence as it is possibly a very personal thing, finding imagery that motivates.
The daily ritual was finding a suitable quiet place where I could meditate a little on the breath to become relaxed and focused. Usually flat on my back on the bed. Yes it was hard work! The purists recommend sitting upright so you don't fall asleep...killjoys!
My meditation would then shift to a "happy place" which in my case evolved as a mountain stream where I could imagine it bubbling its way around the rocks, pools and other natural features that I saw as my larynx, vocal chords, tongue and lips. The water was the airflow and the noise my speech.
Now what causes the blockages and dams in that peaceful picture? It is the flotsam and jetsam from the frequent mountain storms. The storms of self doubt,anxiety and preparation that blew up immediately proir to opening my mouth.
I then visualized my speech as a free flowing mountain stream, no storm debris whatsoever! I saw and felt my tongue and lips as inert objects to be rolled about by the water flow with the waterbouncing off them to produce wonderful speech.
The imagery of a mountain stream is of a beginning as you get downstream with your improvement the image can be turned into an unstoppable river!
Whilst still in a relaxed and focused state I would start to introduce silent speech on the out breath , getting the feel (what my tongue, lips and airflow were doing) of speaking different hard to say phrases such as my name or phone number, starting slowly and silently at first and gradually increasing volume and speed untill I was speaking normally. It is surprising how easy this is when you are totally relaxed and there is plenty of air. Once I became familiar with this visualization I could conjure up the feeling of a loose mouth immediately before a real speaking situation. I practiced at first reading short written passages to friends family and work collegues as opportunities arose.
Here is another way to use visualization from the American Institute for Stuttering.
The power of visualization.
The power of visualization.
AWARENESS
Or should I be calling this mindfulness? I think it is all pretty similar and not such a new concept. Einstein was on to it seventy odd years ago with a quote attributed to him, "You cannot solve a problem with the same level of awareness that created it".
Meditation effectively slows the metabolisim making you calmer and more observant. You can see a lot more travelling at 30 miles an hour than you can travelling at 100.
You will have read under visualization how I got the feel of smooth speech. I also played around with "the feel" of blocking so I could understand the differences. Also what is your instinctive way to hold your breath? I discovered I was holding it with tension in the throat so I also did this little exercise, take a breath using the chest and hold it, feel where the tension is. Then take another breath using the tummy and hold it, feel the difference? Now that I instinctively breathe with my tummy I hold my breath with the abdomen. I don't have the knowlege but I suspect this is significant.
There is now such a lot of information available on the internet that I know would have been helpful to me and I would like to share some that I have found.
First off there is John Harrison and his stutterers hexagon which sums up the complexities of stuttering. John wrote the book Redefining Stuttering. He gives a condensed version of what it is all about in an address to the British Stammerers Association.
BSA Keynote Speech
Then there is the sometimes controversial Dr Mort Cooper PhD. (a former director of adult stuttering therapy at Stanford University) who seems to rub some people up the wrong way, maybe because his ideas are not mainstream and he is not afraid to say so. However I like him, I think he has many years of experience, hits quite a few nails squarely on the head and best of all keeps it simple. He has a series of videos on Youtube that tell us amongst other things that "normal speech is not perfection and every one has bobbles, that is, has pauses, prolongations and repetitions, it is just that stutterers don't realize it, they want to be perfect". Here is a link to get you started. some of the videos repeat themselves but I saw that as an advantage as the more I listened to him the more I got from him.
Game of Stuttering Part I
The Valsalva Maneuver is the basis of a therapy promoted by William D.Parry a stuttering Lawyer turned fluent Speech Therapist. I understand he uses diaphragmatic or tummy breathing as part of his therapy. The handbrake is tightly on and the gas pedal is flat to the floor!
Valsalva Hypothesis
The last thing to be aware of is the inescapeable hardwork still required in taking it to the road. However like the piano players "it was just there" gradually at first and of couse there were the "disruptive brain messages" and "cognitive distortions" to be overcome. So the usual platitudes apply; "one small step at a time"; "success breeds success"; "one step backwards two steps forwards" etc.
Just remember what a dog teaches a small boy, perseverance and to turn around three times before you sit down!
Meditation effectively slows the metabolisim making you calmer and more observant. You can see a lot more travelling at 30 miles an hour than you can travelling at 100.
You will have read under visualization how I got the feel of smooth speech. I also played around with "the feel" of blocking so I could understand the differences. Also what is your instinctive way to hold your breath? I discovered I was holding it with tension in the throat so I also did this little exercise, take a breath using the chest and hold it, feel where the tension is. Then take another breath using the tummy and hold it, feel the difference? Now that I instinctively breathe with my tummy I hold my breath with the abdomen. I don't have the knowlege but I suspect this is significant.
There is now such a lot of information available on the internet that I know would have been helpful to me and I would like to share some that I have found.
First off there is John Harrison and his stutterers hexagon which sums up the complexities of stuttering. John wrote the book Redefining Stuttering. He gives a condensed version of what it is all about in an address to the British Stammerers Association.
BSA Keynote Speech
Then there is the sometimes controversial Dr Mort Cooper PhD. (a former director of adult stuttering therapy at Stanford University) who seems to rub some people up the wrong way, maybe because his ideas are not mainstream and he is not afraid to say so. However I like him, I think he has many years of experience, hits quite a few nails squarely on the head and best of all keeps it simple. He has a series of videos on Youtube that tell us amongst other things that "normal speech is not perfection and every one has bobbles, that is, has pauses, prolongations and repetitions, it is just that stutterers don't realize it, they want to be perfect". Here is a link to get you started. some of the videos repeat themselves but I saw that as an advantage as the more I listened to him the more I got from him.
Game of Stuttering Part I
The Valsalva Maneuver is the basis of a therapy promoted by William D.Parry a stuttering Lawyer turned fluent Speech Therapist. I understand he uses diaphragmatic or tummy breathing as part of his therapy. The handbrake is tightly on and the gas pedal is flat to the floor!
Valsalva Hypothesis
The last thing to be aware of is the inescapeable hardwork still required in taking it to the road. However like the piano players "it was just there" gradually at first and of couse there were the "disruptive brain messages" and "cognitive distortions" to be overcome. So the usual platitudes apply; "one small step at a time"; "success breeds success"; "one step backwards two steps forwards" etc.
Just remember what a dog teaches a small boy, perseverance and to turn around three times before you sit down!
Conclusion
Rewiring the "speech machine" looks to be a definite possibility according to the Neuroscientists.
As I see it I was not trying to learn anything new as I dispensed with the speech therapy techniques early on in the journey. I was merely reminding my brain of its inbult ability to breathe and produce fluent speech as nature intended.
I am no Neurologist but as I understand it the reason old familiar behaviours are hard to replace with new foriegn behaviours, is that the brain is basically lazy and when presented with two options in a real life situation it will select the easiest or more familiar and thus the status quo remains. This would be particularly so when the new option still makes you sound funny! Present the brain with an option that is easy and produces a more comfortable and rewarding result and it will go that way.
I was not trying to use a technique in a real converstion ( a bit like trying to fix something inside your car as you are driving along!). I used the the calming breath and the feel of a relaxed mouth if I knew a conversation was imminent.
Tummy breathing and visualization were the main ingredients of my fix with meditation being the egg that bound it all together. Some cognitive behaviour therapy and expert coaching may well have sped it along. My methods could no doubt could do with tailoring and refinement by those with knowlege in these areas. Will it work for others? I can see no downsides it just needs some people who stutter prepared to give it a go.
The bonus benefits as described by Rick Hanson and Sara Lazar are almost immediate.
It would be wonderful to see a wave of young people who stutter persue careers in Neuroscience in the same way many have become Speech Therapists. Collaboration between between the professions will be the key to unlocking the stuttering riddle.
I hope I have proved informative and if you have got this far down the page, provided some inspiration.
I'm off now to take the bewildered one out for a bobble!
Cheers
Steve
As I see it I was not trying to learn anything new as I dispensed with the speech therapy techniques early on in the journey. I was merely reminding my brain of its inbult ability to breathe and produce fluent speech as nature intended.
I am no Neurologist but as I understand it the reason old familiar behaviours are hard to replace with new foriegn behaviours, is that the brain is basically lazy and when presented with two options in a real life situation it will select the easiest or more familiar and thus the status quo remains. This would be particularly so when the new option still makes you sound funny! Present the brain with an option that is easy and produces a more comfortable and rewarding result and it will go that way.
I was not trying to use a technique in a real converstion ( a bit like trying to fix something inside your car as you are driving along!). I used the the calming breath and the feel of a relaxed mouth if I knew a conversation was imminent.
Tummy breathing and visualization were the main ingredients of my fix with meditation being the egg that bound it all together. Some cognitive behaviour therapy and expert coaching may well have sped it along. My methods could no doubt could do with tailoring and refinement by those with knowlege in these areas. Will it work for others? I can see no downsides it just needs some people who stutter prepared to give it a go.
The bonus benefits as described by Rick Hanson and Sara Lazar are almost immediate.
It would be wonderful to see a wave of young people who stutter persue careers in Neuroscience in the same way many have become Speech Therapists. Collaboration between between the professions will be the key to unlocking the stuttering riddle.
I hope I have proved informative and if you have got this far down the page, provided some inspiration.
I'm off now to take the bewildered one out for a bobble!
Cheers
Steve
PS. Two very helpfull and insightful books I have read and highly recommend.
I have recently discovered a excellent little book that explains all the aspects of yoga in a down to earth manner and provides practices that can be easily integrated into a busy life. The title is "Yoga Sparks" by Carol Krucoff available on Amazon for around US$10. Take a peek with the "look inside" function.
The other book is Professor Schwartz's "You are not your brain" The four step solution for changing bad habits,ending unhealthy thinking and taking control of your life.
I have recently discovered a excellent little book that explains all the aspects of yoga in a down to earth manner and provides practices that can be easily integrated into a busy life. The title is "Yoga Sparks" by Carol Krucoff available on Amazon for around US$10. Take a peek with the "look inside" function.
The other book is Professor Schwartz's "You are not your brain" The four step solution for changing bad habits,ending unhealthy thinking and taking control of your life.