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From: Judy Kuster
Date: 18 Oct 2010
Time: 13:49:55 -0500
Remote Name: 76.17.183.48
You asked, "What are some suggestions on revealing this idea that it may be an avoidance behavior or how to further investigate the true etiology of “um”?" I guess I would try to lead him on the path to self-discovery. I might first just talk about "avoidance behaviors" in general - the kinds of things we have learned to avoid in our everyday life. Remember when you were young and you avoided "stepping on a crack" in the sidewalk? "Step on a crack and your break your mother's back" I think the old saying went. Then maybe start talking about "avoidance behaviors" in speaking, including self-disclosure if you have any examples yourself. I personally avoid "spontaneous speaking" -- I refused to be anything but the first affirmative speaker in college debate, where I could have a "canned speech." If the conversation does not bring up the "ums" in his speech, you might have him identify all of his stuttering behaviors, and have him talk about them. It is interesting that fillers and even repetitions are at times NOT the word a person is stuttering on - they are a way to postpone (avoid for a short time) the next word, which is really the stuttered word, and the individual often will tell you that. If your client ever joined Toastmaster's, he would learn that "um" is a frequent filler many fluent speakers need to work on, too. Toastmaster's actually has an "um-counter" that will report how many "ums" occurred in a speech.