Many PWS believe that stammering is not something which I do- it is something mysterious that just happens to me unconsciously. Our subconscious mind erases stammering moments from the inner memory tape and therefore we cannot recall what did we actually do, how did we actually feel and react in that moment. And therefore, we […]
Toastmasters & Stammering. Can the two really go together? Many would consider them contradictory. I consider them complementary. I joined Toastmasters in January 2010. The primary reason I joined was because I stammer – I have been since I was eight years old. A friend had told me “Toastmasters makes you a better public speaker”. […]
The Chennai SHG meeting held on 30.06.2013 at Anna nagar Tower park were attended by 5 pws namely Gnanasekaran, Karthikeyan, Prabu Francin, Karunyamurthy and Manimaran. First of all thanks to Gnanasekaran who has organized this meeting. No formal introduction was required as we know very well each other’s. Before the commencement of meeting Gnanasekaran informed […]
Work Smarter and More Easily by “Sharpening Your Axe” If I die in a war zone,Box me up and send me home..Put my medals on my chest,Tell my mum I did my bestTell my dad not to bow,He won’t get tension from me nowTell my brother to study perfectly,Keys of my bike will be his […]
Joseph Sheehan(1918-1983) Joseph Green Sheehan was born May 27, 1918, Battle Creek, Michigan. Sheehan “overcame a severe stuttering handicap,” and “was a noted authority on speech.” He was an educator, clinical psychologist and author. He established the Psychology Speech Clinic at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1949 and directed it until the […]
A LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR A Personal Letter to You Smile and make up your mind that you are going to be happier and get more joy out of life! As you follow the suggestions in this book, bear in mind that stuttering is your problem and yours alone,and it probably will take a lot of discipline […]
NEED OF FELLOW STUTTERERS After all, fellow stutterers, there are strength and resources within each of us. Only through these can we really accomplish anything. (Brown)
Hello All, Here is the report for Bangalore SHG meeting on 18th May 2013. We started on a different schedule from 2-3 PM than usual sunday schedule.Attendees for this meeting were Dinesh,Abhinav,Fransis, Anshuman,Subodh,Navdeep,Sairam, Nishil and me Avnish. Fransis was new member to our SHG group. We initially started with reading of self help manual as […]
DEVELOP A HIERARCHY OF SITUATIONS Let’s tackle the problem. How do you go about achieving these goals? Plan to go at it easily but in an organized way with determination. You may want to start by systematically tackling one rule at a time. Possibly work on one which would be easy and then take the […]
STUTTER FORWARD 1.Why continue to make a sound when you have already produced it? (VanRiper) 2.The stutterer needs to stutter forward. He needs to go ahead…without regard to anticipated difficulty. (Sheehan) 3.Keep going forward slowly but positively. (J. D. Williams)
STUTTER VOLUNTARILY 1.Your fear of stuttering is based largely on your shame and hatred of it. The fear is also based on playing the phony role of pretending your stuttering does not exist. (Sheehan) 2.When the stutterer does voluntary stuttering, he can say to himself, “I am doing the thing I fear. Also I realize that I can change […]
BEHAVIOUR OF STUTTERING 1.Every stutterer will have some ups and downs and the course of improvement is seldom a smooth course. (Kamhi) 2.Despite progress there will be occasional days of poor talking for disorganizing stresses are sure to intervene. (Bluemel) 3.The central problem of treatment is not the difficulty of bringing about fluency, but the high probability […]
STUTTERER’S WRONG BELIEF 1.The stutterer believes that the most important communication in speech is to avoid stuttering at all costs. (Trotter) 2.What happens is this: The successful avoidance causes some anxiety reduction. Then, when a similar situation presents itself, the need to avoid is even stronger due to the preceding reinforcement. But now, no avoidance is possible. The conflict […]
LEARN TO COPE UP WITH TIME PRESSURE 1.Panic, tension, and an overwhelming urgency are the hallmarks of stuttering;they are what you must overcome. Totally resist any feelings of hurry and pressure. Let ’em wait. (J. D. Williams) 2.A basic feature of stuttering behavior is that the stutterer is under time pressure to a great extent. The stutterer […]
FREELY ADMIT YOUR STUTTERING & DISICUSS YOUR PROBLEMS 1.Many stutterers learn that their greatest enemies are fear and tension.(Aten) 2.No problem is solved by denying its existence. (Brown) 3.Whenever you have an opportunity to discuss your stuttering with someone,do it! (La Porte) 4.This involves telling friends and colleagues that you are a stutterer working on your […]
BECOME AN HONEST STUTTERER 1.The first thing you must become is, an honest stutterer. (Starbuck) 2.Many stutterers will go to any lengths to conceal from others the fact that they stutter. There is great fear of losing face. (Murray) 3.If you are like all of the other adult stutterers I have known, you create,without meaning to, […]
ESTABLISH GOOD EYE CONTACT 1.Establish eye contact before you begin to speak. Two or three seconds of quiet eye contact can get you off to a better start. (Sheehan) 2.Try to maintain eye contact with your listeners. Looking away severs the communication link with your audience and convinces them that you are ashamed and disgusted with the way […]
The speech behavior patterns that have usually been associated with or identified as stuttering vary from person to person, and from time to time with any given person. (D. Williams)
No one but myself improved my speech. Others have helped me by providing information, giving emotional support, identifying bias, etc. but the dirty work of therapy is, and always has been, my responsibility. (Boehmler)
Yesterday, a young man (sensitive, well educated, regular guy) came for counselling. After some “blah blah theory” we went out for “practicals”. Something happened- interesting but really painful for the young man. I hope he is reading these lines. Names are not important- we are all same- under different labels- fearful and insecure. So, friend, […]