Are you somebody who has a stammer? My name is Stephen Hill and I had a stammer problem which started when I was aged four. I had to endure a frustrating 18 years having the stammer before finally managing to achieve total fluency. This article is about the types of speech therapy that are available for stammering.
After my stammer developed, my parents decided that I needed to attend some sort of speech therapy. I attended various types of therapy, some in groups, some on a one to one basis. Over the years I have been given a lot of information and advice with regards to overcoming the stammer. These are some of them:
slowing down the speed of my speech
costal breathing
prolonging each word or sound
taking a deep breath before I started speaking
I was a child that started at what I suppose would be considered to be the first class – preschool stammering. I was very young to attend stammering speech therapy and my parents were reassured that most people who stammer in childhood soon grow out of it. I guess there is no rhyme and reason to it but I did not manage to just “stop stammering” and it continued to affect my life well into adulthood.
Then came the turn of childhood stammering – I was no longer a very young child but the speech impediment was showing no signs of abating. I kept on attending speech and language therapy despite the lack of progress that I was making. I guess I continued to go to keep my parents happy. This had little effect on my fluency and it has to be stated, that I really did not want to attend these anti stammering sessions. This was because I felt that the people who were trying to help me, did not really understand what I was going through, as they had never actually had a stammer themselves.
I then progressed to the class called, adult stammering. I now decided that speech therapy was not really working for me and seeked alternative stammering treatment.
I decided to try my own form of stammering help. Even though I had a stammer, at times I could talk very well. As an example when I was drunk, I spoke superbly. This was possibly because of the additional confidence the alcohol seemed to give me.
After nearly a year I managed to overcome stammering and eradicate the stammer once and for all. As a career I now help other people to stop stammering.