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Re: cancellations

From: Joe Klein
Date: 20 Oct 2008
Time: 10:12:02 -0500
Remote Name: 74.70.44.201

Comments

Hi Rachel. Great question. This is how I do and teach a cancellation. You have to do three things: 1. finish the word you are stuttering on. 2. Pause for at least two seconds, gather yourself, make sure you are breathing, etc., and 3. say the word again (and I like to do a little stretch on that word, but you don't have to). Now, why would anyone want to do this. Well, there are lots of good reasons to do a cancellation. 1. It naturally slows down your rate of speech. PWS often get frustrated with how long it takes to talk, and are amazed to realize how fast they are trying to talk, and this is a very good way to remind yourself to slow down. 2. It gives you a change to "correct" that moment of stuttering, and to realize how to say it more easily, right in the moment. 3. It advertizes your stuttering. It lets people know, I stutter and I am working on it. Thanks for your patience. 4. And this is related to #1 & 2, it doesn't allow you to race through the stuttering. You have to hang in there, stop, gather yourself, and move forward slowly, rather than barrelling through the stuttering, which only makes it more likely that you will stutter again very soon. 5. It helps you really identify what you are doing in the stuttering. Right there, in the moment, you can feel what you are doing... I will stop at 5, but in my classes we have come up with as many as 12 positive reasons to try cancellations. Now, will you stutter again. Maybe. But, did you stutter slower the second time? Did you stutter differently? It gives you a chance to problem solve what, exactly, you are doing with your speech in that moment in time. And, it's always okay to stutter. Take care, Joe K.


Last changed: 10/20/08