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From: Peter Reitzes
Date: 10 Oct 2008
Time: 17:01:33 -0500
Remote Name: 68.107.236.82
Steve, I think the answer to your question has to be “It depends.” Having said that, let me share some thoughts. Recently I was speaking to an extremely overt person who stutters and I asked her if she had ever tried voluntary stuttering. She jokingly responded by saying, “You silly boy.” Her response is one I have heard many times over the years from very overt stutterers. But when my buddy and I spoke with her about the reasons that voluntary stuttering may still be worth trying, she responded by saying, ‘Why would I stutter on purpose when I stutter so much?’ This statement is similar in many ways to what a covert stutterer often says, “Why would I stutter on purpose when I try so much not to stutter [overtly]?” At the end of the day, I think that overt and covert stutterers may be equally challenged by voluntary stuttering. Both overt and covert stutterers are faced with the fundamental question of, “Why would I stutter more when I want to stutter less?” I have met very overt stutterers who are just as negative or positive towards voluntary stuttering as are covert stutterers. I can remember facilitating a voluntary stuttering activity at a self-help meeting well before I was a speech pathologist. I suggested to the group that we have an additional sharing section where the goal would be to stutter the most, not the least, by using voluntary stuttering (of course, participation was voluntary). A few very overt members were furious at this activity because their personal goals were very “fluency” based. Such a “fluency” based outlook can be very similar, in my opinion, to covert stuttering. So to summarize, in my opinion, voluntary stuttering can be equally challenging to both overt and covert people who stutter. Let me add that voluntary stuttering can also be equally rewording to both overts and coverts.