This past Saturday, we held a one-day refresher therapy course for past clients. We spent the day working on voluntary stuttering and reviewing vocal fold management. During our conversation about voluntary stuttering, one of the participants shared a very interesting point.
She has a friend who is a professional oboe player. Whenever he has a solo, he makes a point to make a small error at the beginning of the piece. This helps put him at ease and he is able to settle in to his solo. In the same way, we discussed how voluntary stuttering can also be a great way to start speaking. As musical soloists may worry about making a musical error, people who stutter are sometimes anxious about making a fluency error.
Peter Reitzes wrote a great article on voluntary stuttering in the International Stuttering Awareness Day Online Conference in 2005. He provides a detailed summary of the benefits of voluntary stuttering and suggestions for trying it out yourself.
Do you find voluntary stuttering useful? Or, is it hard for you to imagine that stuttering on purpose could be beneficial when what you want to do is stutter less?
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Wow, this is really interesting Carl!
Comment by Joel Korte — December 9, 2009 @ 1:01 am
Thanks for commenting Joel. It’s such a powerful analogy, I had to share.
Are you using any voluntary stuttering lately?
Comment by Carl — December 9, 2009 @ 9:56 am
Carl,
Since I completed the Intensive Program at AIS, I never used voluntary stuttering but I did self-advertised. I found it helpful on some word to voluntary stutter. For example, I have a hard time saying the “F” sounds and the number “7.” When I know I’m going to have a hard time, I say ” f-f-f-five or etc. This helps a lot but now I must focus on eye contact when I do voluntary stuttering.
Serge
Comment by Serge — December 13, 2009 @ 7:46 pm
Thanks for sharing Serge. Yes, it can be very helpful to use good eye-contact during voluntary stutters. Its one more way to experience a stuttering moment in a drastically different fashion. Have you ever tried voluntarily stuttering on a word before the one you have a hard time with? For some, that throws things off, and they don’t end up stuttering on the tough word.
Comment by Carl — December 14, 2009 @ 12:04 pm
Hey,
I use VS a lot, especially when I am giving a presentation about stuttering. I find it helps me right away to put it out there, and volitionally model the different ways I might stutter.
I have also used VS at the beginning of Toastmaster speeches. It helps quell any wonder or surprise that someone who doesn’t know I stutter may have, and prepare them for a real one.
I helped run a parent workshop last month at a stuttering youth day. For most of the parents, it was their first experience with group support as parents of kids who stutter. I led them through an exercise of voluntary stuttering with a partner and then talking about how it felt. It was powerful. Some moms broke down. It really helps a non-pws understand the experience, and it helps me feel more in control.
I am not 100% comfortable using VS in one-on-one situations when meeting someone new socially. That fear of judgment still creeps in. A sign that I still need to work on it.
Pam
Comment by Pam — December 24, 2009 @ 11:30 pm
Thanks Pam. Its great to hear feedback from someone who’s tried volunatary stuttering and found it effective. I agree that speeches and presentations are perfect times to throw in an intentional stutter.
Also, thanks for sharing the activity you did with parents of kids who stutter. I might have to steal that!
Comment by Carl — December 28, 2009 @ 8:44 pm
One of my 18 year old son’s best friends has a prominent stutter and in the last year he has “picked up” a stuttering habit. I keep pointing out that he is doing it and he will stop for a while, but then he starts doing it again especially after he has been with his friend. Maybe he thinks it is endearing. I think he is doing it to get attention, like someone who speaks really softly so people will come closer to listen. I also have noticed my husband will also “fake stutter” when he asks people certain questions in order to get their full attention. This is really irritating. Why would anyone want to cultivate a stutter?
Comment by Kim — February 21, 2010 @ 6:45 pm
Hi Kim,
Thanks for posting a question. Voluntary stuttering is a specific strategy used by people who stutter to learn to react to their stuttering in a new fashion. It is, in part, based on the psychological concept of negative practice.
Your questions seem to be more related to why someone who does not stutter might copy the speech of someone who does. Let me see if I can answer your questions. But, before I do, that, I’ve got a few questions for you.
When your son stutters, what does it sound like? Does it ever seem like he’s “stuck” on a word or sound? Has your son ever stuttered in the past? What about when he was a young child? Keep in mind that stuttering can range from “pronounced’ (frequently getting stuck on words, prolongations of sounds/words and repetitions, visible and audible secondary behaviors) to more mild forms of stuttering (infrequent repeatitions of sounds/words, getting stuck on words periodically).
When you point out to him that he’s stuttering, how does he respond? Does he get upset or act like he’s not doing it on purpose? What about your husband? Do you and your husband ever talk about stuttering? Did he stutter as a child? Would he describe his periodic stuttering the same way you have (strategically used to get someone’s full attention when asking questions)?
You’re right that people sometimes use tricks or strategies to hold the floor or grab other’s attention when speaking. Some people might speak with many repetitions, filler words, or hesitations. They might speak extra loud or soft, or do a variety of things. However, these tricks are often completely separate from stuttering. Stuttering is usually a developmental problem, so it is not simply picked up as a habit. When stuttering occurs in a person who stutter’s speech, It is a temporary physical loss of control. It can be very fatiguing.
I’m not ruling out that your son is copying his friends speech a bit. I’m also not ruling out that he actually stutters, perhaps to a lesser extent.
I’m eager to read your response.
Comment by Carl — February 22, 2010 @ 3:07 pm