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From: Dave Williams
Date: 15 Oct 2009
Time: 11:28:38 -0500
Remote Name: 98.219.124.61
Dave, right now you think "once a stutterer, always a stutterer." It's an ongoing topic among many speech pathologists and clinicians. I, too, tended to feel that way back when I was a pretty severe stutterer with an absolutely lousy self image. For quite a few years now my stuttering problem has all but vanished. I still have occasional slight hesitations in my speech (they're no worth calling "blocks") with no struggle behavior--only a momentary, fleeting feeliong of tension. I have absolutely no avoidances, no anticipation of stuttering, no "negative emotionality" of any kind. I used to be terrified of the telephone; now if anything I'm more fluent on the phone than in face to face talking. I like people, and I like to talk. I'm highly aware of my 'speech freedom'---it's a glorious feeling and I revel in it. Years ago we were taught to feel rather uneasy or even guilty about any display of fluency. Nearly any fluency was suspect, and often called "false fluency." Nowadays I don't worry about how I talk. I don't 'plan' how I'm going to say something--I just talk. Well, you get the idea. I wish I could tell you exactly how I got this way. I'm simply not certain. I underwent considerable speech therapy (a la Wendell Johnson and Charles Van Riper), but I never had any sudden burst of improvement, nor any great relapse. Just steady slogging along and doing my share of goofing off, but also doing what I felt I had to for my own good. Your stuttering may not change for the better, true, but you can't be too sure of this. Keep plugging, and you may be surprised some day.I certainly wish you all the best!