The Why and the How of Voluntary Stuttering

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Re: The Why and How of Voluntary Stuttering

From: Peter Reitzes
Date: 04 Oct 2005
Time: 12:14:12 -0500
Remote Name: 134.29.31.126

Comments

You ask some great questions Shelly. When working with school age children between the ages of 8-10, I use voluntary stuttering, when appropriate, to meet each child’s needs. Generally speaking, I ask my students to stutter on purpose in a smooth, but noticeable manner using some type of stuttering modification tool. We practice this in the speech room first and the in public. I also feel there is a desensitization component anytime they stutter on purpose. At times, I will take a school age child out to specifically work on desensitization. But I am very careful when I do this. Recently I worked with a 5th grade student (ten years old) who had a lot of shame around his stuttering. I took him out in public a few times and he watched me stutter on purpose in a hard and noticeable manner. With this particular student, I decided not to ask him to stutter “hard” in public because I felt he was not ready for it yet. He seemed to have gotten a good deal of vicarious relief from the experience though. After watching me, he just kept saying, “I didn’t know you were allowed to do that.” He really respected that I was willing to stutter hard in public. // With younger children between the ages of 4-7, I use voluntary stuttering in a very different manner. For example, in one group with three 7 year olds I have played a stuttering identification game in which I will start by talking and throwing in some occasional voluntary stutters. The first student to “catch me” stuttering by raising his hand gets a point. Once the student “catches” me stuttering, I ask him to “show me exactly how I got stuck.” Then the student tries his best to stutter in the same manner that I did. While I do not refer to this as voluntary stuttering, my younger students are in fact stuttering on purpose. Then I ask my students to take turns leading the game by talking and throwing in some “hard talk” or “bumpy talk.” I do not avoid using the term stuttering with young children, but I have found that many of the 6-7 year olds I work with do not understand the term yet. So I use more descriptive terms such as “sticky speech.” // As far as using voluntary stuttering with “severe” or “mild to moderate” clients, these are terms that I really do not use because they have the potential to be misleading. For example, a person who can be heard to stutter a lot may have little fear built up around her stuttering while a person who can be heard to stutter very little may feel greatly impaired by her speech. Purposeful stuttering is full of potential for people who are very overt (who can be heard to stutter a lot) and for people who are more covert (who spend a lot of time hiding their stuttering). For just on example, an overt stutterer may benefit from using purposeful stuttering to practice speech tools while a covert stutterer may gain more from the desensitization aspect of volitional stuttering.


Last changed: 10/24/05