Do you stammer?

Adrian_Scope

Yesterday was International Stammering Awareness Day 2019 and STAMMA have been asking people who stammer to talk about themselves, what they do, what they've achieved or what they're proud of.

Stammering is a neurological condition which makes it physically hard to speak. Someone who stammers will repeat, prolong or get stuck on sounds or words. There might also be signs of visible tension as the person struggles to get the word out.

• About 8% of children will stammer at some point, but most will go on to talk fluently. 
• For up to 3% of adults it will be a lifelong condition.
• Stammering affects mainly men and every ethnicity. 
• There is no link between stammering and intellectual capacity. 
• Like other neurological conditions, it covers a spectrum. Everyone stammers differently and to different degrees.
• For some there’ll be periods of their life when they stammer less and others when they will struggle to speak.
• Many find that as they get older the condition improves.
• In the UK we largely use the term stammering. Elsewhere in the world the term used is stuttering. 

Unfortunately as stammering has little public visibility, support can be hard to find, but it is out there, including therapy suggestions from STAMMA, community support from the British Stammering Association, as well as online groups for young people, women, the LGBT+ community, and parents of children who stammer. There's also plenty of local support groups across the UK and there's even a webinar focusing on working with and supporting people who stammer on Monday 28th October.

Do you stammer? What sort of tips would you give to someone with a similar stammer to yours? Have you had any experience of speech therapy?

Sam_Alumni

I am a huge fan of Scroobius Pip and his podcast Distraction Pieces - he has a stammer and is a musical artist and podcaster. He did a podcast with STAMMA that is brilliant, take a listen

Adrian_Scope

Yes! He is well worth a listen. Thanks Sam.

susan48

Hi
i developed a stammer after a stressful situation happened. I was diagnosed as have FND. My speech varies daily depending on my anxiety. If I’m going into a situation which might trigger my stammer I write down what I want to say. It’s very embarrassing and isolating especially because there’s no warning signs. It has been suggested to sing what I’m trying to say but it sounds awful 

dolfrog

I was one of the 8% of children who had a stammer, and one  who grew out of it in my early teens.
I have a PubMed Stuttering/Cluttering research paper collection which may help explain some of the issues (cluttering is term used in the USA)

Ails

I developed a stammer when I was around 5 years old, not long after the death of my grandpa, who I was really close to.  It got really bad at times during school and was always triggered by anxiety.  I found out that often I just couldn't get the words out and my friends laughing and teasing me would just make it worse.  My parents sent me to various speech therapy and elocution lessons which helped somewhat and it gradually faded as I got older and gained more in confidence.  When I was working in various jobs I used to dread starting anywhere new as I knew I would stammer meeting people.  The thing that helped me the most was when I went to university and had to speak in tutorials and give presentations to other students.  I hated this at first, but found the more I did it the better my speech would be.  By this time I had started my teacher training and worried that my speech would hold me back, but most of the time I would be able to control it and found the children were great at accepting any blips from me.  Children are so much more accepting to any faults/differences I think and don't judge us.  During treatment of my stammer I was encouraged to sing my words, but found this to sound awful too so just concentrated on my reading and breathing exercises and these worked for me.  I tried to not think that I was going to stutter in social situations, but this was sometimes unavoidable.  On occasion I do still have the odd stutter when I am meeting new people or talking on the phone to someone I don't know simply because I am anxious, but on the whole it is hardly there and you can't shut me up now, lol!  STAMMA are a great organisation who I have found very supportive in the past.