Stutter Through It
A speech therapist told me once when I hit some repetition, “You already made the initial sound. You can move on to the next one now.” While this doesn’t always work (Introducing yourself as JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ—-amie will lead to quite a number of people saying “Amy?”) there was part of this mindset that stayed.
I’d get so obsessed with the stuck sound that it would consume my entire mind. Forcing out that first sound. Tensing my body, shutting my eyes, begging that sound to GET OUT.
Until I began to realize - the rest of the word will come. Eventually.
And for a block? The sound will eventually come.
How long it will take? Your guess is as good as mine. But it WILL come out, eventually. No need to stress.
Stuttering is unpredictable and variable. While we can feel a stutter coming on (is there science to explain that feeling?!), there’s no way we know for sure until the word is about to leave our mouth.
So I started looking at amusement at my stuttering. Stuttering on my name? Classic. Let’s all hang out together while it stutters. Prolonged H-sound? HHHHHHHHILARIOUS for some reason, if not particularly draining physically.
I began to give my stuttering some patience. “It’s all right, stutter, you’ll get there eventually.” It doesn’t always work and it takes time to implement. Sometimes the stakes are higher. But this type of mindfulness drastically changed my relationship with my stutter and then my relationship with communication in general.
Maybe it’ll take awhile. Maybe it won’t. Maybe you’ll need me to repeat myself a few times until we get it right. But whatever it takes, I’ll stutter my way through it. .
