What is your definition of stuttering?

[Anonymous]

I would like to hear what people deem as “stuttering”. The reason I ask this is that many PWS have a hard time accepting that they are no longer a PWS.

Maybe if we can define what being a stutterer is, it will be much easier for people to see that they no longer fit the definiton of a PWS.

[Javier]

I consider a PWS to be a person who has bad incidents regularly. And by bad incidents I mean those speech incidents that if a stranger saw/heard it, he/she would clearly identify as a problem in our speech. The most common manifestations of these bad incidents are too many and unnecessaty repetitions of syllables or words, blocks, grimacing, undue silences, or a combination of all the three.

[Gábor]

I was wondering if stuttering really is a bad habit. It has no physical causes, stutterers can be fluent under certain circumstances, so isn’t that possible?

I’ve read somewhere that Colin Firth had a problem to “unlearn” his stuttering after the movie “The King’s Speech” was made and he’s learnt to stutter for the role of King George VI.
https://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2011/05/colin-firth-grappling-with-kings-speech-stutter

[Javier]

The more we stutter, the more of a habit it becomes. In my case, I began stuttering at age 5 or 6, for whatever reason, I don’t remember what caused it, but it triggered my anxiety and my fears of stuttering again. And that’s precisely what happened. And my stuttering began to get worse and worse, until I actuallyn forgot how to speak fluently. I only knew how to speak stuttering, and for whatever reason, I could speak fluently when alone. Now I know the reason: when I’m alone, there’s no pressure, there’s nobody “to judge my speech” (I was too much of a perfectionist, and that’s a problem).
So I had to unlearn a habit of around 25 years…. It took time, but I did it.

So yeah, if Colin Firth, in order to learn how to speak stuttering, I’m sure he had to practice it for countless hours and days, so it must have kind of become a habit for him. And it takes time to unlearn a habit.

[Anonymous]

Gabor, ANYTHING can become a habit, good or bad – if you let it! Remember that stuttering is a habit, nothing more, nothing less. Colin Firth created a habit and needed to unlearn it, simple as that.

It would, of course, be much easier for him to stop stuttering as he only stuttered (on purpose) for a couple of months. So his fluent memories much exceeded his dysfluent memories.

There are DEFINITELY no physical causes of stuttering. If that were true, how did I stutter for over 17 years and suddenly stop within 3 months? I did not undergo any surgery or change anything physical. I had one PWS who refused to believe that stuttering was not physical. He believed that stuttering was caused by a physical block in his chest. He was in his seventies and still stuttered, but he refused to let go of this belief. Of course, we were unable to help him because if you believe that stuttering is caused by something physical, our methods will not help you.

[Javier]

If we don’t believe we can actually do it, we will never do it. If the mind denies it, since the problem is 100% psychological, there’s not much that can be done in that case.
On the other hand, if we believe we can do it, we will eventually do it!

[Gábor]

“Remember that stuttering is a habit, nothing more, nothing less. Colin Firth created a habit and needed to unlearn it, simple as that.”

I actually agree with the habit theory. 🙂 I had a brain scan when I was in my teens, and doctors couldn’t find anything unordinary about my brain.

[Anonymous]

Gabor, people do not understand that our brains are just as healthy as fluent people.

Our HEALTHY BRAINS formed a habit, just as it is supposed to. We incorrectly taught our brains that stuttering should become a habit, so it formed a stuttering habit so as to make it easier for us to stutter.

Our brains are no different from fluent people. It is truly sad that fluent people mistake us for being less smart and less capable as them just because we stutter. We are going to change this incorrect belief slowly but surely!

[Author]

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