A lot of people have experience with stuttering. If you don’t stutter yourself, you may know someone who also stutters and you don’t know how to deal with this. Speech therapy can sometimes help to get rid of stuttering. A speech therapist does exercises together with the stutterer.
What is stuttering?
Stuttering is seen as a speech disorder. This has to do with timing. This means that a certain muscle makes the right movements with the right force at exactly the right time. People who stutter are somehow unable to coordinate these movements properly.
People who stutter have difficulty with this:
- Looking at the person they are talking to. They probably do this because they don’t want to see the reaction of the person they are talking to in the other person’s eyes.
- They often have an irregular breathing pattern and try to talk with too little air in their lungs or they try to talk while breathing.
- They try to reduce stuttering by choosing different words (that amount to the same thing) if they can’t figure it out. They see it coming when they start pronouncing a word. They often know in advance that they will pronounce the word stuttering. Sometimes someone can be so good at this technique that people don’t even notice that they stutter.
- They often stutter more than normal when they are stressed. This is probably because they unconsciously tense the muscles of their vocal cords.
- Some stutterers simply don’t speak at all. This is the shortest way to not having to stutter.
They are ashamed of it
They often have negative feelings about themselves and their stuttering. They are ashamed of it, so they then try to do everything they can to hide it.
Feelings of guilt
They often also feel guilty because they cannot express themselves properly. As a result, they are often unable to explain exactly what they had in mind and how they wanted it to be done.
Frustration and the feeling of being less than someone else
They are often frustrated because they cannot communicate well with other people. They also think they are worth less to someone else (just because they stutter). All these things together can only make stuttering worse.
Cause
There is no clear cause for stuttering. However, if one of your parents or a family member stutters, you are more likely to stutter as well.
Hidden stutterers
They often try to replace the words when they want to say a word that they know in advance will cause them to stutter. So they try to prevent stuttering. Some stutterers are so good at this that they know how to hide it. This group of stutterers are called hidden stutterers.
When stutterers are stressed, they react slightly differently to stress. They tense the muscles of their vocal cords when they are stressed . This causes them to stutter more. People who stutter do not experience any problems when they sing, whisper or read.
Tips for people who don’t know how to deal with stutterers
- Allow the person who stutters to talk calmly and show that you are listening.
- Maintain eye contact
- Don’t laugh at him;
- Don’t comment or suggest how he should try to talk
- Give the stutterer his respect and do not bully or harass him because he stutters.
Facts
- People who stutter do not stutter when they sing.
- 1 in 3 people manage to get rid of it.
- If you speak calmly, you are less likely to stutter
- A stutterer can go to speech therapy and do exercises with a speech therapist to practice speaking.