Stammering Therapies
Information about the best therapies
presently available to stammerers can be found on this page. Stammering can
basically be treated with four different therapeutic approaches:
Stammering Self-Therapy
Electronic devices
Speech Language
Pathologist
Speech Clinics
There are two things you should consider when
choosing a stammering therapy:
1. Stammering cannot be eliminated
overnight. If you have been living with stammering for years or even decades
it won’t go away that easily. Whatever therapy you choose, it will probably
take several weeks or months before stammering can be
effectively controlled. Claims that you can “cure” stammering in a few days should be
looked at with extreme caution.
2. Stammering is not only a speech disorder but also a communication and
behavioural disorder. Stammering can be compared to an iceberg and the speech
disorder only represents the tip of the stammering iceberg. The bulk of the
iceberg is made of the communication and behavioural disorders as well as all
the negative feelings such as shame, guilt, embarrassment etc. A therapy
that exclusively focuses on the speech disorder is bound to fail over the
long run. An effective therapy should be based on a holistic approach and
should address every aspect of stammering: the speech disorder (the
"disfluencies") as well as the communication and behavioural disorders and
negative feelings associated with stammering. See
What is Stammering? for more
information.
Stammering
Self-Therapies
Self-therapy is an affordable and
effective way to treat stammering and this is definitely where you should
start.
To get started, all you need to do is invest a few pounds and commit
yourself to spending 30 minutes to one hour a day doing simple exercises.
You will probably notice significant improvements in your fluency within a
few weeks and should be able to eliminate stammering within a few months.
We have chosen two self-therapy
stammering programs for you:
Comprehensive Stuttering Therapy (Phillip J. Roberts):
Comprehensive Stuttering Therapy is probably the most comprehensive and most
effective self-therapy presently available to stammerers. It includes 29
exercises addressing every single element of the stammering phenomenon: the
“disfluencies” as well as the negative feelings and behaviours associated
with stammering. By going through these exercises, the stammerer will
gradually improve his fluency and alter the destructive feelings and
behaviours that promote stammering. The end result is a self sustainable
fluency lasting for a lifetime. Click
here to access Phillip J. Robert's web site.
Understanding &
Controlling Stuttering (William D. Parry)
Understanding & Controlling Stuttering is another excellent self-therapy
program. William Parry developed a new theory to explain stammering.
According to his theory, stammering results from a neurological confusion
between the voice and the Valsalva mechanism (a set of muscles that we
tighten when exerting effort). The book then suggests a technique that
eliminates stammering by controlling the Valsalva mechanism. Click
here to access William
D. Parry's web site.
It is very likely that self-therapy is all you will need to achieve fluency.
If you still stammer after trying self-therapy, you can then consider other
therapeutic options. In any case, reading these books will provide you with
in-depth knowledge about stammering, and this knowledge will be extremely
useful when visiting a speech-language pathologist or attending an intensive
stammering program in a speech clinic.
If one of your relatives stammers,
we strongly recommend that you read these books. Many stammerers feel that
they are left alone to struggle helplessly with stammering. They wish they
could talk about it with their friends or relatives but they feel so
embarrassed by their disfluencies that it is difficult for them to take the
first step. These books provide valuable information about stammering and
will help you understand the feelings and frustrations experienced by
stammerers. After reading these books, it will be easier for you to take the
initiative and talk about stammering with your relatives. You will then be
able to provide the support the stammerer needs and suggest a therapy to
follow.
If your young child stammers, you will definitely
find these books useful as they will help you to understand
stammering as well as your child's inner feelings. Besides,
Comprehensive Stuttering Therapy (Phillip
J. Roberts) explains in details what parents can do to
help their child become fluent.
Electronic devices
Fluency enhancing devices are based on DAF (Delayed Auditory
Feedback) and FAF (Frequency-Shifting Auditory Feedback). The electronic
device picks up your voice from a microphone, delays the sound for a
fraction of a second (in the case of DAF) or shifts the frequency (in the
case of FAF) and feeds your voice back through earphones.
DAF and FAF can instantly reduce and in most cases eliminate stammering with
minimal efforts from your side. But you should keep in mind that DAF and FAF
should ideally be used in combination with a comprehensive stammering
self-therapy or visits to a speech pathologist. As explained earlier,
stammering is a communication and behavioural problem and you will need to
change your communication patterns, your attitudes and your way of life. You
will also need to learn fluency enhancing techniques and to synchronize
breathing with your speech.
DAF and FAF are not a substitute to a
holistic approach to stammering but can certainly help you to successfully
follow a comprehensive stammering therapy. DAF and FAF will help you slow
down. You will therefore be more in control of your speech and it will be
easier for you to put the fluency techniques that you learned from the
self-therapy or from the speech pathologist into practice. After a while,
you should be able to speak fluently without the help of electronic devices.
DAF and FAF devices can be ordered from
Casa Futura
Technologies.
Speech Language Pathologist:
Another way to treat stammering is to visit a speech-language
pathologist. Visiting a SLP is costly both in terms of time and money and
you will probably want to spend some time reading about stammering before
your first visit. This will help you define your goals and make your
discussions with the SLP more fruitful. We recommend that you read about the
two self- help stammering therapies
described above.
During your first visit to the
speech-language pathologist, you should make sure that the person is
experienced and comfortable in treating stammering and that a holistic
approach will be used.
Speech Clinics
Several speech clinics provide intensive therapy programs
for stammering. Click here
to access our list of speech clinics. Please note that we do not endorse any
particular organisation and this list is only provided to help you locate a
speech clinic. We recommend that you keep in mind the
guidelines given earlier about selecting a speech clinic: 1) Stammering
cannot be eliminated overnight; this means that an intensive therapy program
for stammering should be followed-up by a therapy of some sort. 2) Only a
holistic approach can effectively reduce and eliminate stammering and you
should make sure the speech clinic provides a comprehensive therapy
addressing every aspect of the stammering phenomenon.
Again, it is important that you gain some basic
understanding about stammering before contacting any speech clinic. We
recommend that you first read books about stammering such as
Comprehensive Stuttering Therapy (Phillip
J. Roberts) and
Understanding & Controlling Stuttering (William D. Parry). |