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From: Lynne Shields
Date: 16 Oct 2009
Time: 12:42:00 -0500
Remote Name: 68.188.68.2
Dan, From your post, it sounds as if you are beginning to experience some benefit from your practice of reducing physical tension as you begin speaking. It seems that you are working on using an 'easy onset' to words, meaning you exert less pressure to form the sounds in your mouth or turn your voice on in a gentle manner. You guessed right that it will take quite a bit of practice to become more consistent in reducing the tension you use when you block, so seeing a gradual increase in the frequency with which your are successful is a very realistic outcome. When you find yourself in a block, another way to manage this is to use a 'pull out'. This entails slowly releasing the tension of the block, similar to slowly opening a clenched fist, allowing you to move on to the next sound of the word. That would give you two points at which to manage your blocks, the first being to reduce the likelihood of a block occurring as you begin to say a word (what you described in your post) and the second being a way to deal with a block, once it is already there. Another idea that some people find helpful is to begin talking with some voluntary stuttering. To do this, you might use some easy repetitions to start your introduction ("he-he-hello. My name is...."). This can serve several purposes. It can ease your own tension, because you aren't trying to avoid stuttering, and it is stuttering that you are choosing to do, so you are stuttering in a controlled manner, which may also reduce your tension as you begin to speak. It can be desensitizing for you, which is probably the most important outcome. It may also have a side benefit of alerting an unfamiliar listener that you happen to stutter. I wish you the best as you figure out ways that help you manage your stuttering. Regards, Lynne