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From: Russ Hicks
Date: 15 Oct 2006
Time: 13:25:41 -0500
Remote Name: 71.252.204.114
Hi Stephanie, ..... Thanks for your kind words. They really do mean a lot to me. ..... Before I answer your questions, I want you to read one more article I wrote for the ISAD conference in 1999 called "Public Speaking for Stutterers." The URL is http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/isad2/papers/hicks.html I think that may answer a lot of your questions a lot better than I can here. ..... But in answer to your question "Do you believe that this may be a way for others who stutter to improve on their fluency?" The short answer to that question is no. Toastmasters has nothing to do with fluency, but everything to do with CONFIDENCE. And if increasing your self-confidence improves your fluency, good. It didn't improve my fluency a great deal, but it definitely improved my self-confidence a million-fold. As a result, my fears of speaking have subsided almost to nothing and my stuttering secondaries, (struggles, grimaces, etc.) have all but disappeared. My core stuttering, per se, is still there and quite noticeable, but my communication ability has, of course, skyrocketed. Fluency and communication are two different concepts. Don't confuse them. Toastmasters has definitely helped my communication skills (and I worked hard to develop them just like everyone else), but it had no DIRECT impact on my stuttering. ..... You also asked, "...do you think that by holding back from speaking, stuttering may actually increase[d] in severity?" Gosh, that's a VERY interesting question and my honest answer is simply I don't know. Certainly the holding back didn't help. And no doubt it continued to increase my fears over the years. And conversely to your question above, if increasing fears increases your stuttering severity, then obviously that's not good. And that line of reasoning does make sense. The bottom line is that the sooner you face your fears, the easier they will be to overcome. And THAT absolutely DOES make sense! ..... Yes, the end result of speaking before an audience can certainly be more relaxed and open speech. When you can stand before a group of people and be completely honest and open with them, that's really a wonderful feeling. And I certainly couldn't agree with you more when you said, "... this would be a great way for many to feel more comfortable about their stuttering." As we say down here in Texas, BOY, HOWDY! (The New York translation loosely becomes "You hit the nail right on the head!") <grin> ..... Thanks for reading my paper, Stephanie. I wish you the very best! ..... Russ