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From: Joseph Dewey
Date: 12 Oct 2005
Time: 12:48:39 -0500
Remote Name: 166.70.154.2
Hi Angela. I've read a little bit about the gasping for air with clutterers, and that's something that I do, also. You can hear some small gasps in my speech sample. Actually, the parts that sound the most similar to stuttering are because I "ran out of air," and I’m taking little gasps for breath, rather than that I’m stuttering. I think that the reason for the gasping is what I used to call "forgetting to breathe." For me, it was because so little attention was paid to my actual speech...I was just trying to get all of my thoughts out, that I literally forgot to breathe, and then eventually I'd have to gasp for breath. The therapy that I've heard connected to this is to read a book, and to practice in an exaggerated way breathing on the punctuation. I don't think that gasping is a required symptom of cluttering, and I think it's a symptom of a bigger problem, but I totally identified with your description. Thanks for the question. Joseph