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From: jerry johnson
Date: 10/19/01
Time: 9:51:14 AM
Remote Name: 205.188.200.34
Hi Daniele: I agree, you have expressed the classic anticipatory stuttering: "get ready, get set, stutter." You compound this problem by stating: "I hardly ever can do anything...." Also remember, there is no IT in this equation because the IT is YOU. If you say, "I tried it and it didn't work," you have given in to the Stuttering Beast. Sometimes with symptomatic modification techniques you have to consciously decide whether you wish to stutter or to modify your stuttering and to start out modifying the very first word you speak, whether you think you might stutter on it or not and then proceed to the rest of the sentence. Van Riper once said, "speech starts with a capital and ends with a period." Often times PWS go from word to word, from stuttered word to stuttered word, without movement from start to finish. I would recommend jump starting your therapy in easy situations first and saturate yourself with your "techniques" whether you stutter or not. Gain self-confidence and then move on. Now then: maybe you are becoming so negative and bound up in "beating yourself up" that you find it hard to move beyound all this negative emotion. You might find my paper "Ten Commandments For Long-Term Maintenance of Acceptable Self-Help Skills For Persons Who Are Hard-Core Stutterers" helpful. This can be found in Judy Kuster's great website. Best wishes.