Advice for general conversational speaking at a family event tomorrow?

[Adam Playfoot]

Hi everyone. I just had a question regarding a family event tomorrow. I haven’t blocked in 5 weeks but I find under social pressures I think words A LOT so I just avoid saying those things. Do you guys have any tips for speaking that I can focus on when I am with family tomorrow? Such as speak softly, or slowly, or both, or focus on a crutch, whatever might help me (I am a mild stutterer, but I would say my biggest problem is blocking on vowels) let me know!

Adam.

[Javier]

Hi Adam, and Merry Christmas by the way! And congratulations for having had a bad incident in 5 weeks! You can consider yourself a PWSS, otherwise you wouldn’t have achieved this.

About your question, what I would do in your case would be to speak slowly, that’s for sure, and like a King (short bursts, pauses, etc). Be the one who makes questions and listens, not the one who replies and has all the pressure. Be the listener. If the other person replies to you with another question, reply firstly with a “yes”, “no” or “I don’t know” (nodding your head at the same time), and then say what you have to say. I don’t know if you get my point…

Hand gestures help me a lot, it keeps me distracted. Be expressive, play with your voice (modulation / hold your tone).

These are some of the Crutches that I would use. But the most important thing is, as you know, to be a Speech Cop!

I hope this helps 🙂

[Anonymous]

And remember that this is only temporary. You are now 6 weeks stutter-free. In a couple of weeks, you will be able to speak as much as you want without any fears of blocking.

[Prathusha Ravi]

Hi Adam,

First of all you do not block on vowels. It is just in your mind. When you are speaking using a crutch it doesn’t matter whether you are saying words starting with a vowel or a consonant because when you use a crutch you do not stutter. Under pressure “Always think of a crutch and use them more than usual, I mean I want you to deliberately exaggerate the crutch” presto the stutter vanishes. Maybe you could include this as part of your ASTs. In terms of speaking slow, I always use extreme pronunciation wherein I completely enunciate words with proper intonations just the way how Ross speaks in the television series “FRIENDS”.

I completely agree with Leah and Javie 🙂

Thanks,
PR

[Anonymous]

This is what I always tell PWS, Prathusha. If the issue was the vowel, then you would stutter on vowels ALL of the time. If you have no issues with vowels at certain times, then that is enough proof that the issue is not vowels.

As PWS, we have created certain habits over the course of our lives. I used to think I “always stuttered on the letter ‘T’ “. I now know that because I stuttered on the letter “T” a couple of times, my mind created a habit of stuttering on “T” and it also started producing fear whenever I had to say something with the letter “T” in it. This led me to believe that I stuttered on “T’s”, when in fact, my HEALTHY brain was just doing what I taught it to do – stutter on the letter “T” when under pressure. I have now taught my brain not to do this, and I have not stuttered on any word in over 3 and a half years.

[Adam Playfoot]

Thanks for the advice everybody! Really appreciate it.

[Prathusha Ravi]

I absolutely agree with you Leah 🙂

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