Hello to all forum participants! I have been stuttering since childhood. Probably, it was heredity - my father stutters too. I began to feel inconvenience with speech already in kindergarten (I was afraid to recite poems, embarrassed to ask the teacher something in front of everyone). With age, this affliction did not go away, but only got worse. I encountered great difficulties at school. It was very difficult to retell texts, recite poems, especially difficult - reading at speed. After failures, I was always very upset, worried and oppressed myself even because of small hesitations. It was not easy to communicate with classmates. Sometimes I could not even put together a couple of words, let alone tell a joke or a funny story, I had to listen to others in silence and always remain on the sidelines from everyone's attention, which, of course, I wanted. In high school, I finally realized that stuttering would not go away on its own, that it must be fought and turned to a speech therapist for help. The speech therapist explained to me the reason for my stuttering, taught me to speak smoothly with my finger and to relax while speaking. As I understand it, stuttering is all those speech techniques that a stuttering person comes up with in order not to stutter. These speech techniques include filler words, such as: "well", "that", "so" before each word; fear of pronouncing difficult words, replacing them with simpler ones; repeating a difficult syllable or letter many times, etc. An ordinary person does not need to come up with anything, he speaks calmly and very clearly. But a stutterer is always trying to come up with some kind of trick so as not to give away his stuttering, and through this effort and desire to please people, and not himself, speech significantly worsens, becomes intermittent and clumsy. Although, it would be better to admit your stuttering, relax, speak smoothly, slightly stretching out difficult syllables.
However, after a strong experience (for example, before or during an exam), stuttering returned again. At the institute, my first public speeches were very unsuccessful. I was nervous, confused, spoke uncertainly and unclearly. The lack of practice in speaking at school took its toll. But I did not give up, I was always active, used every opportunity to speak in public, meet new people, start a conversation with new people, did not forget about my internal mental state and was myself. And you know, it helped, although with varying success. Six months ago, I started looking for new methods of treating stuttering on the Internet and came across the axSoft Speech corrector program, which is based on the DAF method. I downloaded the trial version and began to study (read) daily for 40 minutes, setting the delay to 150 ms. The results were not long in coming, literally on the second lesson I noticed a significant improvement in speech, it became smooth and continuous. I became braver and thought not about how to pronounce a sentence and not stumble, but thought about my intonation and the thoughts that I am trying to convey to people. I recommend this program to everyone. Together with breathing exercises and classes with a speech therapist, this program can give an even greater effect in the fight against this far from simple illness.
Never lose heart! Good luck!
Roman R. > You need to speak smoothly, melodious, pronouncing words correctly. And most importantly - speak on the exhale, then fall silent, take a breath, and again speak calmly on the exhale.
Roman > Thanks for the advice!