Should you finish a PWS sentence when they are stuttering?

[Anonymous]

I have been asked this question many times by fluent people. Should they finish the sentence for a PWS when the PWS is stuttering?

When people used to finish my sentences, I loved it. In retrospect, I guess it is because I did not have to stutter and form another humiliating stuttering memory. Many PWS say they do not want people to finish their sentences as it makes them feel like they are not capable of speaking.

I would like to hear some opinions of people who stutter. What do you prefer?

[Javier]

I’ve heard a lot of people, including SLP, advising the opposite, to let the stutterer struggle with the word until they say it.

The way I see it, as long as the person who’s helping you say that word does it to help us, I’m fine with that. Fortunately, thank’s to the Lovett method, we won’t be needing this help for much longer 🙂

[Adam Werth]

YES!!! If the problem is mild….don’t help with words!!! If the problem is nasty–definately fill in troubled words!!! Some advice from those “therapists” are more harm than good!!!

[Javier]

The way to stop stuttering is actually by not stuttering. So, the more fluent memories we create, and the less stuttering memories we create, the sooner we will achieve this goal. To create more fluency memories we can read aloud (if we do it fluently), do our ASTs and listen to the recordings of those ASTs. In order to avoid creating more stuttering memories, and turning them into fluency memories, we have the Crutches.
So what I am tryingto say is that if someone helps us say a word we’re struggling with, well, they’re actually helping us by not making us create more stuttering memories, although I think its preferable to use a Crutch and not needing anybody help us say our words. That’s my opinion 🙂

[Adam Werth]

I already replied to this, but I was unable to add to it….

If a stutterer is mild, they most likely have little trouble…so they probably prefer to speak on their own…..

For the more troublesome cases……..is it right to wade AND WAIT through a person’s stutter almost forever GIVING THEM PERMISSION TO SUFFER AND NOT HELP THEM BY COMPLETING words and sentence??

They know what they want to say…and they almost can say it…but they simply can’t say it. Are you one to be cruel and let them hurt themselves by letting them stutter a thunderstorm and not help them…..??

Being “patient” for a terrible stutter problem is sort of like giving them permission to put themselves through hell. But for mild cases, more power to ya!

[Anonymous]

Adam,

While I was curing, I told my family, boyfriend and very close friends to finish my sentence if I start stuttering (this was in my very early days of curing and I did not know the crutches well enough yet). It helped me for a couple of weeks and then I no longer needed the help from them as I was able to say my words using a crutch.

I say that if you are just starting to use our methods (the first couple of weeks while you are learning the crutches), it is absolutely okay to ask your family and very close friends to finish your sentences – this is just to ensure that you do not form a humiliating stutter memory which will inevitably prolong your journey to self-cure.

I must stress once again that I only needed this assistance for a couple of weeks until I learned how to use the crutches.

[Author]

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