The Prof Is In

[ Contents | Search | Next | Previous | Up ]


Re: Can you make an adult or a child stutter? Discussion of t...

From: Erin Dyer
Date: 17 Oct 2010
Time: 20:08:08 -0500
Remote Name: 66.168.60.78

Comments

It's interesting that when I have my graduate students go into the real world and pseudo stutter with different levels of tension and secondary features, so many will comment later in the course that they've started to "stutter". It appears that by paying attention to their own Normal Speech Mistakes, they experience a higher level of awareness which increases the possibility of tension entering their own speech. So what happens? They perceive themselves as stuttering. So cognitively, the students appear to be diagnosing themselves. I then explain how increased awareness of such behaviors can result in tension. It reminds me of when I tried to take dance lessons. I tightened up so much that I'd fall over myself. Am I saying that my activity caused my students to stutter? No, but those who are highly sensitive may have an increased awareness of their own response that it may also increase their own disfluencies. Of course, I do not have data to support this.


Last changed: 10/23/10