Stuttering- More Than Feelings 

Posted in Emmotions, clients, nature of stuttering on 03/02/2010 by Barbara Dahm

Many people who stutter believe that they stutter because of their feelings about themselves and being too concerned with what other people think of them. It cannot be denied that people who stutter often stutter more when they are concerned over how they present themselves or how their speech sounds to others. However, it is important to differentiate between what causes stuttering and what increases stuttering. Making this difference is essential for understanding what stuttering is and for the self-esteem of many people who are sincerely trying to not let their stuttering affect their lives.

I want to make this point, because I have heard many people who stutter say that if they could make themselves care less about stuttering, they would not stutter. The fact that they are still stuttering seems to them to be a failure in their ability to cope emotionally. This is not the case. A person can be the most centered, emotionally intelligent and socially well-adjusted person and still stutter. This is true, because stuttering is a condition that involves so much more than the person’s feelings.

Today researchers are coming up with more and more evidence that the place where speech is created, the brain, is the source of stuttering. Recently new genetic research lead by Dennis Drayna at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health, has shown that at least some people (thought to be 9% of the people who stutter) have a gene mutation, not found in fluent speakers. It turns out that these particular genes are responsible for the production of two enzymes necessary for a metabolic process required by all cells, but that especially affect a group of cells in the brain responsible for speech. Other researchers studying other families have also found indications of mutations in genes of those members of the family who stutter. The relationship of these genes to speaking is not yet clear. However, what we are seeing is that stuttering isn’t simply a question of how the person feels.

For those people who have tried to stop stuttering by changing only their attitude and feelings, it is important to know that stuttering is not only about what you feel inside. Advertising stuttering is good and helpful. Learning to be self-accepting of yourself whether or not you stutter is essential for your personal wellbeing. Being disappointment in yourself and thinking you have failed because you still stutter is self-defeating and misplaced.

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Chasing Fluency 

Posted in dynamic stuttering therapy, fluent speech, speech control on 02/21/2010 by P3

Desire of people who stutter: Becoming fluent

Reason for continuing to stutter: Trying to become fluent

So many people who stutter go to therapy to fulfill their desire to become a fluent speaker, only to be disappointed when it doesn’t happen. They try and they try, and the more they try, the more they become frustrated. The consequence is either giving up on their hope of ever speaking without stuttering or continuing to search in vain for the magic cure that will get rid of their stuttering.

I don’t believe there are any magic cures, but I do know that people who stutter can speak fluently. I also know that people who stutter will never speak with normal fluency by trying to speak fluently. As a matter of fact, trying to be fluent is very counterproductive, because it usually makes the person more aware of words (a good way to make stuttering happen), and putting in more effort to try to get them out (adding control to what must be an automatic process).

It’s hard for people who stutter to grasp that there is a way that they can create fluent speech without chasing after fluency. Perhaps that is why the hardest challenge of Dynamic Stuttering Therapy is to keep clients focused on the internal processes of creating speech when all the really want is the outcome-fluent speech. In Dynamic Stuttering Therapy, fluency is never the criteria of success. Nevertheless, when the person creates speech in the normal way, the effortless outcome is fluent speech.

As I write this, I am watching the Winter Olympics. I see sportsman after sportswoman focused on their process for their sport as they go for the gold. I think this is a good example of how to achieve success in therapy.

Desire of people who stutter: Becoming fluent

Reason speech is fluent: Focus is on the inner processes of creating speech

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My thoughts after the ASHA Division Conference 

Posted in controversy, dynamic stuttering therapy, therapy approach on 02/08/2010 by P3

The ASHA Special Interest Division in Fluency Disorders 2010 Leadership and Clinical Conference is now over. I think it was one of the best of our Division conferences that I have been to. I was very heartened by the content of the conference. The talks were informative and stimulating and certainly gave us direction for advancing our field.

As I listened to many of the talks, I realized that as research progresses and clinicians share their treatment experiences and observations, the speech-processing model of stuttering is gaining greater validity.

This model, as Dr. Edward Conture suggested, is based on process. It is aligned with Willem Levelt’s model of speech production that is so often mentioned by Dr. Conture, Dr. Luc DeNil and other experts in our field. The speech-processing model considers stuttering in relation to brain functions, attention, neuro-motor programming, neurological functioning, language formulation, working memory, and the automaticity of speaking. All of these topics were subjects that were discussed as possible links to stuttering.

Dynamic Stuttering Therapy, the therapeutic correlate to this theory, seeks to make changes in the neurological functions that relate to speech and language planning and production, as well as the cognitive and behavioral changes that so many of you see as an important component of therapy. It also incorporates Prochaska, DiClemente and Norcross’s Stages of Change model that Dr. Walter Manning mentioned in his keynote speech.

Unfortunately, I only had 5 minutes on Saturday to talk to most of the conference participants about this approach. I think that because of the overlap of Dynamic Stuttering Therapy theory/therapy with what we discussed at the conference, there is a need to investigate this model to see whether it is a worthwhile direction for advancing the effectiveness of the treatment of stuttering.

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It’s time for a new theory on stuttering therapy 

Posted in dynamic stuttering therapy, therapy approach on 02/01/2010 by P3

This week I am traveling to Tampa, Fla., to the ASHA Special Interest Division in Fluency Disorders 2010 Leadership and Clinical Conference. The title of the conference is “Unique Challenges and Common Themes in Stuttering Assessment, Treatment, and Research”. I am very much looking forward to this conference, because I believe that the time has come for everyone interested in advancing the treatment for stuttering to work together at developing a unified scientific theory.

This conference will be a gathering of clinicians who are concerned with delivering effective therapy to their clients, researchers who want to find answers to the many questions about stuttering, and professors who want to pass on correct knowledge to their students. The Stuttering Foundation of America and National Stuttering Association, two organizations that represent consumers who want and deserve improved treatment will also be lending their support. It should be an ideal forum for exploring new ideas, observations, and findings. A realistic outcome will be the ability of all to look beyond the same ideas and treatment approaches that have been discussed over and over in the past and to find the best direction for advancing the field.

I am planning to do my part as part of a roundtable discussion. As all my readers know, I will be presenting a theory and treatment approach that is different from what most of my colleagues follow. This is not the 1st conference in which I will be sharing my views. I first presented my seminal theory at a conference in Oxford England in 1993. The reaction I received there and at seminars and conferences that followed was extremely positive. However, my clients who tell me that Dynamic Stuttering Therapy is the most logical therapy that they have experienced don’t understand why other clinicians do not use this treatment approach. Perhaps the late Hugo Gregory was correct in 1993 when he told me that my ideas would not be accepted in our lifetime. Apparently new ideas do trickle slowly into the collective consciousness. That is why I am pleased for the opportunity to share my experiences, learn more about the latest research findings and insights from my colleagues as we brainstorm together with an open mind. By doing this, we should be able to make this a successful conference. I’ll give you my impressions when I return.

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The Connection Between Speech Anxiety and Stuttering 

Posted in controversy, nature of stuttering, speech control, therapy approach on 01/19/2010 by Barbara Dahm

Most people who stutter believe that anxiety causes stuttering or increases stuttering severity. There is an obvious link between anxiety and stuttering, but, as with most aspects of the condition of stuttering, there is more to it than meets the eye.

Many years ago, I presented a research study at The Third International Congress of Fluency Disorders in which I asked both normally fluent and stuttering speakers to develop language in whole word units instead of syllables while producing only a voice or while talking silently (as if the mute button had been turned on). I then asked them to describe the feeling. Both groups answered that they felt choked, tense, and uncomfortable. The people who stutter said that this way of speaking reminded them of stuttering. The fluent speakers reported that this is not at all the way they speak.

This experiment lends support to what I have observed so often in the clinic. Processing speech in the way that people who stutter do, not only makes speech stuttered, it also leads to feelings of tension and anxiety. People tend to believe that anxiety causes stuttering, or stuttering causes anxiety. However, both anxiety and stuttering are the natural outcomes of faulty speech processing. Over time these two conditions become so linked in the speaker’s mind that any feeling of anxiety will exacerbate faulty processing and, therefore, increase stuttering. In turn, a stuttering incident increases anxiety. This leads to increased faulty processing and, therefore, increased stuttering.

Many people believe that the goal of therapy for stuttering is to reduce anxiety. They believe that if the person who stutters could just relax the stuttering would disappear. While it is true that giving up the effort of trying to get words out fluently, may lead to more automatic processing and thus reduce both stuttering and anxiety, it is asking the impossible to try to feel relaxed when you are still trying to control speech.

One of the big frustrations that people who stutter often encounter is being told to relax so that they won’t stutter. Trying to follow this impossible, though seemingly good advice, only increases anxiety.  I have treated yoga experts and people who meditate daily. They are great at relaxing, but the second they try to control their words, relaxation evaporates.

When clients learn to produce speech automatically, without thinking about words and how to say them, the result is not only flowing speech, it is a feeling of comfort and relaxation. Trying to reduce anxiety may inadvertently lead to better speech processing, but there is a more direct approach. Learning to produce speech automatically and without control directly leads to a decrease in anxiety and stuttering.

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The Fluctuations In Stuttering 

Posted in clients, dynamic stuttering therapy, general information, nature of stuttering, speech control, therapy approach on 01/13/2010 by Barbara Dahm

An almost universal aspect of stuttering is that people who stutter don’t always stutter. There is a small number of people who do stutter more or less the same way and to the same degree whenever they talk. However, they are by far in the minority. Most of the people who I have met who stutter (in the thousands!) tell me that they stutter more when… The ending might refer to people, places, words or letters, eating and sleeping, or even the weather, but most often to “tension, pressure and anxiety.”

In an effort to speak fluently, people who stutter, their family and friends are busy trying to find out what outside factors make them stutter. Their hope is to eliminate, change, or learn how to deal with these factors. The emphasis is on external factors. This search is ineffectual because the external factor is not the problem.

The role of external factors is that they may lead the speaker to use a more, or less, controlled process for speaking. It is the individual’s reaction to outside factors and the way their brain functions when these factors are present that actually causes the fluctuations of stuttered speech. Therefore, it is the individual’s reactions, not the catalyst leading to the reactions, that need to change.

Brain functions are not carved in stone. They fluctuate for the better and worse as a result of experience, learning, practice, self-talk and imagination. When an activity has been done in a certain way over and over again, it becomes automatic and consequently more efficient and less subject to influence by outside circumstances.

Taking control over normally automatic processes will always have a negative effect. We see this when we give too much thought to our body movements when we walk or dance. Controlled action makes us clumsier and less flowing in our movement. The same thing happens with our speech.

Stuttering comes and goes according to the degree that controlled processes function to produce speech. By learning how to produce speech automatically, and by accepting the need to speak without control, people who stutter can develop a stable system that generates fluent speech.

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Schedule your consultation for our New Jersey clinic today 

Posted in dynamic stuttering therapy, general information on 01/11/2010 by P3

Barbara Dahm will be available for therapy sessions and initial consultations beginning in February at The Ridgewood Speech and Language Center in Midland Park and Tender Touch Therapy in Lakewood, New Jersey. Clients beginning therapy will be able to continue treatment via the web.

In addition, Barbara will be available to work with clinicians looking to expand their expertise in stuttering treatment.

For an appointment, please contact us at barbdahm@gmail.com or by phone, please call us at 201-378-0089 until Jan. 28 and 201-873-2093 after Jan. 28.

Barbara will also be part of a roundtable discussion at the American Speech-Language Hearing Association Conference on Unique Challenges and Common Themes in Stuttering Assessment, Treatment, and Research, which begins on Jan. 29 in Tampa, Fla.

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Covert Stuttering 

Posted in clients, dynamic stuttering therapy, general information, speech control, therapy approach on 01/05/2010 by Barbara Dahm

The inconsistent nature of stuttering often causes people who stutter to feel confused as they wonder whether the next word, sentence or conversation will go smoothly. People who stutter covertly have an additional frustration. They feel the stuttering, work hard to speak, and also live in fear of being found out.

Part of the frustration of covert stuttering is the result of the lack of understanding by the people around them. Parents, friends and teachers may not be aware of the feelings or the difficulty that the speaker is experiencing. Unfortunately, even when they try to explain, people who stutter covertly are too often told that they really don’t have a problem or that it is a psychological problem.

Some people believe that covert stuttering is different than overt stuttering. Speech pathologists have been known to turn covert stutterers away from speech therapy. After all, it’s difficult to use speech modification or fluency shaping techniques to change the speech when no stuttering is heard.

Even people who stutter overtly sometimes fail to understand covert stuttering. They may minimize the problems that the covert stutterer feels, and claim that if stuttering is not heard, it isn’t really stuttering. This only adds to the torment that people who stutter covertly experience.

I want to say unequivocally that covert stuttering is as real a condition as overt stuttering. In both conditions the speaker is not generating speech easily and automatically. Even when stuttering is not audible, there is very real pressure that can be felt in the head, chest, vocal tract, or abdomen. The person who stutters covertly may be very good at changing words quickly so that planned words are not actually forced out, or they may use more pausing so that blocks are not actually heard. However, what is going internally is not very different in overt and covert stuttering. In fact, some speech techniques for controlling overt stuttering, actually lead to covert stuttering, i.e. they result in less stuttered speech produced by a still mal-functioning speech production system.

Effective treatment for covet stuttering usually involves reducing the effort to hide stuttering, but people who stutter covertly do not have to try to stutter overtly on purpose, because this puts the focus on the stuttered speech instead of on the process of speaking. Learning how to process speech is as important for people who stutter covertly as it is for people who stutter overtly. They can learn to produce speech automatically and without effort. Since this is the goal of Dynamic Stuttering Therapy, treatment is just as effective for people who stutter covertly as for people who stutter overtly.

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Online Client Discusses Therapy 

Posted in clients, dynamic stuttering therapy, general information, therapy approach, treatment results on 12/28/2009 by Barbara Dahm

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Letting Go Is Essential 

Posted in clients, dynamic stuttering therapy, speech control, therapy approach, treatment results on 12/21/2009 by Barbara Dahm

I’ve been talking a lot about control lately. It’s a really important subject when it comes to treating stuttering. Learning how to speak without control is really not very difficult to do. The process of speaking automatically is not complicated. There is so much less to do and think about than when creating stuttered speech. The speech is flowing and expressive. But the hardest thing for clients to do is to accept that speaking fluently requires giving up control.

For some people who stutter control has become so intertwined with talking that to give it up seems very strange. They believe that it is normal to think of what words you are going to say and how to form the sounds. They can’t imagine not doing that when they talk (even though they don’t do it when they are talking to themselves). Other people use control as a crutch. They know how to speak without control, but they are afraid to let go.

Actually the more people try not to stutter, the more control they exert over their speech. That is why chasing fluency has always been a no win battle. When people who stutter give up their fear of stuttering and any negative feelings that they have toward themselves because they stutter, they are often more open to giving up control. Speaking fluently requires using the normal automatic processes of producing speech. Giving up control is essential.

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