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From: J Scott Yaruss
Date: 14 Oct 2009
Time: 10:34:56 -0500
Remote Name: 74.109.245.93
Hi Umer -- You're right that people do tend to stutter on the first sound of a word... Another way to think about this, though, is that people tend to stutter at the beginning of a SYLLABLE.. .So, tractor, with two syllables, atually gives you two opportunities to stutter (lucky, huh?). From what you described, it sounds like you've practiced those light contacts for the initial "t" -- but then that middle one comes along and gets you. It's another initiation and another opportunity for stuttering. And, it also sounds like you've done some good work to understand what you're doing with your speech mechanism during the moment of stuttering (pushing your tongue, etc..). So, as to what to do with this...no easy answers, of course, and lots of different opinions. For example, some people find that when they're experiencing a lot of physical tension, they try easy "bouncing" or easy repetitions as a way of moving through the moment of stuttering and keeping the tension from building up too much... So, it could be something like "tract-t-t-or." These repetitions will be intentional - using stuttering as a way of changing stuttering. Another piece of the puzzle is to continue to work on desensitizing yourself to stuttering to help you reduce some of that lingering tension... Remember that the techniques can't do all the work. There is of course much more to say and others will add on.... S