Passing As Fluent

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Re: Covert Stuttering

From: Terry Dartnall
Date: 10/13/03
Time: 10:55:24 PM
Remote Name: 132.234.9.147

Comments

Hi Kara!

You ask what made me decide to inform others about my covert stuttering now and why I you avoided telling others in the past.

I spent my sabbatical at Smith College in Massachusetts last year and thought I should take advantage of the superior facilities and knowledge about stammering that I thought I would find in the US. Australia isn’t a backwater, but I have the impression that very little is known about covert stammering over here. On the other hand, it was an Australian, John Steggles, who pointed me in the right direction. John put me in touch with Russ Hicks and Chris Roach and some other helpful folk – and Russ introduced me to the STUTT-L group. It was then that I discovered I was covert stammerer!

As to why I avoided telling others in the past … shame, fear, avoidance, the fact that I can pass as fluent most of the time, the whole covert profile… which we don’t understand very well.

You say, “In addition, you stated that you have been teaching college classes, I was wondering how much you are planning ahead of yourself before lecturing to a large class?”

Lots! One of the reasons I am a good lecturer is that I spend a lot of time preparing, even when I’ve given the lectures many times before. You need to relive it, to be inside it. The last thing you want to do is to go in and read from your notes. Oddly enough, having bad lecture notes is a GOOD thing, because you have to have the stuff in your head, rather than relying on what’s on paper! Since I’ve put my notes on the web I spend less time preparing for lectures – and that the lectures aren’t so good!

Terry


Last changed: September 12, 2005