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Why some people suffer from a stutter

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Re: Why some people suffer from a stutter

#51

Post by 2wrist »

pbhowmic wrote: post #40
2wrist wrote: post #34

Have a stutter too, I was in speech therapy from when I was 7, and one of the techniques that worked best was to focus on breathing and relaxation. When I blocked on words, the levels of tension in my body was/is extremely high. Specifically in my diaphragm, when there is tension, my chest is more rigid and the tension in mouth and tongue is so much stronger. So they had me focusing on relaxing my diaphragm which wou…

My son has been in speech therapy since about 5 or 6. He is 10 now and still stutters.

It is worth it to keep going, he is figuring things out still, both himself and this thing he is figuring out, and the technique and insight may not be the cure now but at some point he will piece things together and what he has learned may help.

Good luck to you and your boy.

Re: Why some people suffer from a stutter

#52

Post by 2wrist »

mrhektor wrote: post #11

I have a stutter. Years of speech therapy as a kid did very little to solve the problem. The only thing that helped somewhat was a device called the "Speakeasy". It looked similar to a hearing aid, and essentially played back what I said to me. The insight was that when people who stutter speak along with someone, they tend to stutter less. I've also noticed I don't stutter at all when singing along to a song. It kin…

I was once given a device called the 'Edinburgh Masker', it was a set of headphones and a throat mike (I looked like a ww2 bomber pilot..) and it played a tone when you got stuck on a word. It was very weird, but quite interesting, as the tone would be so distracting that you forgot about the block or the repeated sound!

Re: Why some people suffer from a stutter

#53

Post by wyxuan »

HappySweeney wrote: post #21

I got rid of my childhood stutter near instantly when someone told me that it was becuase I was thinking three sentences ahead of where my mouth was. All I needed to do was slow down the "speech in your head". I could still think ahead; I just needed to not internally vocalize my future words, and it all went away like magic.

Oh god I feel like this describes me super well. I think my solution is to practice speaking a lot and act more relaxed.

I never thought of this problem as stuttering, but other people have brought this exact same commentary up to me.

Re: Why some people suffer from a stutter

#54

Post by saisundar »

Had a severe stutter as a child. It wasn't until I started meditating about 4 years back, that my stutter no longer holds me back.

My experience here lines up with the experience cited by others on the thread.

To phrase what seems to have worked for me in a more systematic manner -

A. Micro level - deep breathing helps. At the end of a long day, when I am fatigued, my words get slower and harder to get out clean. I take a deep breath or a series of breaths and this usually helps.

B. Marco - meditation really has helped me deal with my own thoughts and insecurities ( which unfortunately stuttering tends to push more of), and find a core of Calm. The more I reconnect with that sense of calm, the more I feel like stuttering is within my control, and the more it helps.

Wouldn't wish it upon anyone - many days ended with me cursing and hating myself. Many days I would blame my father for it (easier to blame him, as a young boy) for not doing anything about it.

I would certainly hug every little kid I see with a stutter. Not just for what they are going through then, but to just let them know that "it will be OK".

Re: Why some people suffer from a stutter

#55

Post by lordnacho »

iliaznk wrote: post #48

Has anyone noticed Elon Musk stutter? Almost with every sentence he says there's a word or two he visibly struggles to pronounce.

Yeah, to me he seems like he's got a lot of thoughts going on in his mind, and so there's always something making him hesitate to put out the next word. It's like when you're in deep thought about something and trying to explain it to someone at the same time, you end up with contention on the stdout and it looks weird.

A huge number of HN folks seem to have a stutter issue, maybe because they are also having a lot of thoughts while talking.

Interestingly another guy who interrupts his current thoughts is currently campaigning for re-election.

Re: Why some people suffer from a stutter

#56

Post by MaxBarraclough »

kuratkull wrote: post #19

I am in my early 30s and I have had a stutter since childhood. It was pretty serious when I was younger, currently pretty manageable - many/most people I know don't know(or remember) that I stutter. As I get older it's become more of an internal battle. I am pretty good at hiding it. If I am relaxed I can talk for long stretches without pauses. But occasionally I have to take a second or two before I can get a word o…

> I only stutter in my native language, I don't stutter in the couple of other languages I know.

Interesting. Are you slower when speaking these other languages?

Re: Why some people suffer from a stutter

#58

Post by Mcai4sh3 »

I have stuttered all my life. The best explanation to date I have studied and had the pleasure of being apart of is the Stuttering Valsalva Hypothesis. Look it up its a real eye opener and explains every aspect as to why stuttering happens in early childhood and for some persists into adult hood. Personally stuttering has forced me to live outside the box, to question life in a deep and meaningful way and to that extent it has been a blessing.

Re: Why some people suffer from a stutter

#59

Post by dmitryminkovsky »

pbhowmic wrote: post #38

My son (10) stutters. We thought we had gotten him help early enough so the problem would be "licked" just as so many others before him had done so but it helped some but the stuttering is still there. I don't know what else we could have done but this failure to help him cure his stuttering is one that left me feeling guilty and also angry (at no one in particular, just indiscriminate anger) and this spilled over in…

Much respect for the honestly, introspection I can only imagine it takes to write that, and thank you for the perspective. I stutter and there have been discrete times I’ve noticed my mom being embarrassed, ashamed of me for it. She’s always been a great parent and really supportive, but to be honesty I can’t blame her: it must be frustrating seeing this develop and take hold in your child and not being able to beat it. It’s a seriously complicated thing, so while I thought man that’s really petty of you mom, at the same time I understood how she must feel. Anyway, brutal it ruined your marriage. Sorry to hear that. I have a newborn son and it’s really something watching to see if he will inherit this. I think if he does, that’s ok: there’s a lot worse you can inherit, a lot worse. That’s the thing about stuttering, it’s all in your head and you tend to blow it out of proportion which only makes it worse than it is or could be. I hope to come to terms with this stuttering to some extent, but don’t feel guilty or bad about yourself if you don’t completely.

Re: Why some people suffer from a stutter

#60

Post by dmitryminkovsky »

lymeeducator wrote: post #17

My young son, now 7 (no stutter), did stutter at age 4 and had some level of anxiety. My wife and I discovered that he has an allergy to annatto, a natural seed used for orange dye & nutty flavor, that triggered the stuttering. The stuttering was likely due to slight inflammation in his brain. In this case, slice of organic American (orange) cheese caused him to stutter within 10 minutes. Then we could tell when he h…

This is really fascinating thanks so much for sharing. How did you discover the allergy if the only effect was stuttering?
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