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From: Alan Badmington
Date: 10/21/03
Time: 6:30:50 PM
Remote Name: 195.92.67.65
Hi Cortney,
Thank you for you contribution.
As I have mentioned in my responses to several earlier posts, I began expanding my comfort zones in 2000 when I joined a speech programme. Prior to that date, I had never encountered the concept, nor term, 'comfort zone'.
The new techniques that I acquired enabled me to venture out into the real world and reverse my negative limiting beliefs about my speech. Without these techniques (and the support that I received), I doubt that I would have had the courage to embark upon such a journey.
You mention that you feel I accepted myself as a person who stuttered. Yes, that's correct. It is an integral part of the programme that we recognise that fact.
With regards to my previous therapy experiences, I received some kind of therapy when I was a child and adolescent but, I regret that I cannot recall what it entailed.
I subsequently tried hypnotherapy (very briefly) and wore an Edinburgh Masker for 20 years. That small portable mechanical device blocked out the sound of my own voice by means of a buzzing sound that was activated each time I spoke.
If you wish to learn more about these approaches (and the steps I took to expand my comfort zones), you may wish to read the transcript of a speech that I gave to the British Stammering Association in 2001. (I subsequently repeated the presentation at the National Stuttering Association Annual Convention in California last year).
Entitled, 'Stuttering is not just a speech problem', it can be found on several stuttering-related websites, including the following:
http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/Infostuttering/badmington.pdf (Stuttering Homepage)
http://www.stammer.demon.co.uk/conf2001_alanbadmington/ (British Stammering Association website)
May I wish you every success with your studies.
Kindest regards
Alan