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November 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

fluent speech, stuttering treatment, stuttering therapyHave you ever wondered why you speak much more fluently when you are talking to yourself or to babies and animals? Aside from making you curious, the inconsistency in your ability to speak in different situations has probably caused a lot of frustration. There you are talking to yourself and having no problem. Then someone walks into the room and oops, the words don’t flow anymore. Talking alone or to pets is just one of the many fluency enhancing conditions that needs to be explained in any adequate theory of stuttering.

To try to understand what the difference is between speaking in the fluency enhancing situation and when talking to others, let’s look at the situations more closely.

Scene #1

Rover has just started to chew on your favorite pair of old slippers. “Rover, stop that. I love those slippers. Naughty dog. What am I going to do with you?” flows through your mind and without realizing it, your thoughts become audible speech.

Scene #2

Mother walks in the room, expressing her frustration that Rover is causing more damage. You want to defend him. You try hard to find the right words to tell her what a good dog Rover is. You have to say that “m” sound that is so hard for you to say. “M-M-Mother, HHHes only being (pause) playful.”

What is the difference? Between scene #1 and #2? In the first scene you forgot that you were talking. Actually, you were thinking aloud. The aloud part was secondary. You were not really conscious that you were talking. You were involved in the situation, not the speech. In scene #2, you were “trying” to talk, “trying” to find the right words to convince Mother, “trying” to get that awful “m” sound out. You were conscious of the act of talking.

In my theory that stuttering is a condition in which there is too much control and consciousness about speaking, these scenes make perfect sense. People who stutter are capable of developing flowing language as they think. It is only when they are thinking about the words they are saying and “trying” to consciously to make speech that they have a problem. “Trying” to talk and allowing your thoughts to flow aloud are two different neurological processes. The first is stuttering, regardless of whether it is perceived by the listener, or covert in nature. The other process is the way most people produce speech, most of the time.

Knowing this, it is possible for each person who stutters to explore what is easier, the conscious act of “trying” to talk, or talking with as little consciousness as possible about how to talk. This exploration will lead to a greater understanding of how fluent speech is naturally created.

Filed Under: dynamic stuttering therapy, therapy approach

Book review: “Speech is a River”

September 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

“She’s got it, by George, she’s got it!!!” That’s what I said over and over again as I read Speech is a River: My Recovery From Stuttering, by Ruth Mead. This book explains so much about the inner game of speaking from the viewpoint of a person who stuttered and who no longer stutters. With clarity, wit, humor, and a not a small measure of political incorrectness, Mead takes on many of the false beliefs that perpetuate and exacerbate stuttering.

Ruth Mead is a writer. I don’t know if she is a professional writer, but she is a personable writer who opens a window into the mind that is behind the stuttering. In Speech is a River she describes her own mind, thoughts and observations, but I don’t think there are many people who stutter who will read this book and not recognize something of their own mind, beliefs, reactions, perceptions and behaviors.

The main premise throughout the book is that people who stutter let their conscious mind try to control the natural spontaneous speech that can flow within. She talks about her own discovery that “Speech is not amenable to coercion”, and explains how she stopped trying to plan and think about how to say words or push air through the block she felt in her throat..

Mead is no stranger to speech therapy. She discusses her experiences with some of the therapy approaches that she is familiar with. She then goes on to explain her recovery through a self-help journey that changed not just her speech; it changed her state of being.

As much as I agree whole-heartedly with everything that Ruth Mead says, I have to add, from the perspective of a clinician who sees many people who stutter, there is more to the “journey” than changing one’s worldview of speaking. There are brain processes that come into play that might intensify the mind’s attempt to control speech. Nevertheless, no therapy will be beneficial when the conscious mind is trying to get out words or say them consciously. That is why this book is so important. It really is the only book that I know of that discusses in length the debilitating tendency to plan, rehearse, think about and try to say words.

As a person who is determined to understand stuttering and guide people to overcome it, I am personally grateful to Ruth Mead for sharing her experiences and making her book available as a free download http://stutterers-anonymous.com/.  This is a book that every person who stutters and their families and friends would benefit greatly from reading.

Filed Under: nature of stuttering, therapy approach, treatment results

Understanding the Dahm Theory of Stuttering

July 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If my theory of stuttering is valid, it must be able to explain the variable nature of stuttering. There are some people who stutter in almost all conversations, but this rare, and even these people do not stutter on every word. Most people have times, or situations during which they report that they don’t stutter. Sometimes people can predict when they will stutter, but sometimes it just seems to happen without any warning.

According to my theory both stuttered and fluent speech is the outcome of the way the brain functions when speaking. Brains are dynamic. Therefore, while there is a preferred neural network for carrying out a specific task, different neural networks can kick in at different times according to the circumstance, health, thoughts and feelings of the person, or environmental cues. Let’s take the task of writing. The letters we see on the paper are the outcome of a neural network that we develop as we learn to form letters to express language, and do this repeatedly. After a while our handwriting becomes automatic and individualized. However, over time it changes. It also changes if we are relaxed/excited, happy/sad, distracted/concentrated, and, according to graphologists, as our personality develops. The same is true of speech. Fluent or stuttered speech is the outcome of a neural network that we develop as we learn to verbally express language, and do this repeatedly.

One of the factors that I believe affects the way the brain functions is the degree of conscious control that the speaker exerts over how to move the mouth to form words. More control equals more stuttering and less control results in better fluency. If you are speaking to myself, to an animal or small child, you are probably not at all concerned about speaking. In fact you might even be oblivious of the fact that you are speaking. What you are doing is simply giving expression to your inner thoughts. You are not thinking at all about talking, let alone trying to be fluent. Here is a situation that will not trigger the control mode of speaking, the mode that helps to create stuttering. Different situations can be linked to different modes of speech production. In later blog, I will explain the neurophysiological speech control network and why it creates stuttering.

Of course, there are people who also stutter in the situations that I’ve mentioned. Maybe they stutter less than when speaking before an audience or telling a joke, but they do report that their speech is not completely fluent. According to my theory, the network may have become so hardwired that even when not trying to control fluency, it is the default program. You might say it is basically the way the brain functions.

I invite all of you who stutter to see if there is a connection between your trying to speak fluently, articulately, or just trying to talk and the degree to which you stutter. When you totally forget that you are speaking, as in swearing or making asides, such as “I-I-I b-b-built a mmmm-mmmm-mmmm (aside: ‘This word is not coming out’) mmmmodel airplane,” do you have some spontaneous fluency? After you look into  this, I invite you to share your experiences. You might just find out why “chasing fluency” is so very unhelpful.

Filed Under: controversy, dynamic stuttering therapy, fluent speech, therapy approach Tagged With:

Confusion surrounding stuttering – and your questions

June 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Understanding stuttering would be much easier if we knew what we don’t know. We think in a certain way, so we are not aware of the possibility of thinking differently. This seems confusing, but what is very clear is that by thinking the same way we thought before, keeps us in a state of confusion.

Today people who stutter are confused. If you stutter, you have probably asked yourself, “What made me stutter this time?” or “Why can I speak in one situation, but not in another?” Wouldn’t it be great if there were a theory that would explain the why and how of stuttering, and how people who stutter can speak with ease and comfort?

So far there is no widely accepted comprehensive theory of stuttering. Furthermore, there never will be one, if we keep thinking about stuttering from the same perspective. By opening our minds and realizing that there is more to know and many different ways of looking at stuttering, we may be able to put crystal clarity on a condition that has until now been surrounded by a cloud of confusion.

For the past quarter of a century, I have been asking myself what is it about stuttering that I don’t know. Trying to find the answer to that question lead to observations that lead to another question. Through this process, I eventually found myself with the beginnings of a theory of stuttering. In this blog I want to check out this theory, but I will need your help. You see, if my theory can be proven to be true, it has to be able to explain all of what you know now about the characteristics, and nature of stuttering and fluency inducing factors. It also has to explain the speech behaviors, attitudes and feelings of people who stutter and how stuttering begins and develops. If my theory is valid it has to be testable and applicable to all people who stutter. It also has to be able answer all your questions or at least generate questions for research that can answer your questions. This is where you can help. In the weeks to come, I am going to explain my theory and see if it is plausible. So please post your questions below and let’s get a dialogue going. Let’s see if together we can get to know what we don’t know.

To get started, I will give you a basic overview of what I think stuttering is. As I comment on your questions and comments, I will explain it in more detail, but for now, it goes like this:

Stuttering is a condition in which the normally automatic way the brain transforms thoughts into language while producing a voice that is automatically shaped into speech sounds comes under too much control. Instead of all the elements of speaking working simultaneously, the speaker pays attention to words and then tries to get them out.

All the symptoms we see in people who stutter, such as blocks, repetitions facial and body tension, a lack of breath, fear of speaking, discomfort and so much more are the result of the malfunctioning neurological system that involves speech planning and production. Genetics, learned behavior, misconceptions about speaking, attitudes, reactions to outside stimuli and emotions can affect and may be affected by the way the system functions.

I look forward to explaining this theory further and to being stimulated by your questions.

 

Filed Under: fluent speech, general information, history, nature of stuttering, therapy approach

Throwing Away Speech Tools That Don’t Work Anyway

May 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

stuttering therapy, online stutter therapy, web stutter therapy, fluent speech techniques

I have received several emails from people looking for quick tips on how to eliminate stuttering. I try to answer each and every email with as much helpful advice as I can give, but I know that I have disappointed the writer when I reply that changing speech from stuttered to fluent involves more than taking a deep breath, speaking slowly or trying to relax in one way or another. People have been trying to do these things for many hundreds of years. They don’t work. Occasionally, at best, techniques such as these can act as a catalyst that starts the person on a process of change. The problem is that in the vast majority of cases, these techniques become the focus of attention and as such, they are not helpful. In fact, they may even cause more frustration, added physical tension, and increase the person’s difficulty in speaking.

We know that speaking is meant to be an automatic and subconscious activity. Nevertheless, people tend to look for some way to control their speech. You can’t learn how to do an automatic activity by trying to find ways to control it. You can’t dance flowingly to the music while you are thinking about how to move your feet; you can’t speak with flowing thoughts while you are thinking how to say the words, take breath, or formulate your language.

The concept that speaking will improve by way of speech controls that are sometime called “speech tools” is deeply ingrained in the human psyche. Even as my clients are experiencing the natural and automatic way of speaking, I see that some of them still want to find a trick to control what they did so automatically.

In answer to all of you who are looking for that elusive fluency trick, I’m going to give you a tip. Take the first step toward speaking fluently. Do as the National Stuttering Association suggests in the title of their newsletter, “Letting Go”. Let go….of your speech controls. Stop looking for a magic trick. Accept that stuttering is not a speech problem. Stuttering is symptom of a malfunctioning system for speaking. Then take step 2: on your own or with the help of a knowledgeable clinician, explore what you can do to get it your system to work in the natural automatic way that it’s meant to work.

 

 

Filed Under: dynamic stuttering therapy, therapy approach

One small step for stuttering therapy

May 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Last week I experienced a first for me in the realm of technology. I had been invited to give my first 3-hour online seminar to the Speech Clinicians attending the Mississippi Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention. The seminar “Treating Stuttering With Confidence” was held last week.

During the seminar, I was able to show slides along with movies and recordings. However, the audience and I could not see one another. While I was not able to converse with the audience during my presentation or afterward, I have received feedback from some of the participants telling me that they enjoyed the presentation. I did miss the interaction that I have when training clinicians via video conferencing and hope that the next time video technology will allow for face time contact. However, it was wonderful to be able to reach so many people from a great distance.

I am always happy to share my experience and the knowledge that I have gained over the years in the field of stuttering. I do not intend to stop treating the people who stutter in the near future. However, I would like more people than I can treat myself to have the opportunity to receive Dynamic Stuttering Therapy from clinicians who understand the importance of helping their clients develop the normal processes for speaking.

 

Filed Under: dynamic stuttering therapy, history, therapy approach

‘Your patience and knowledge was just a miracle for our son!’

May 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

We’ve added some recent testimonials to the site – we hope you’ll enjoy reading the successes patients and participants in Dynamic Stuttering Therapy have achieved. We’re very proud of each of them and what they have accomplished.

Hi Barbara,

Since we the last session, I must say that there has been a definite change in the way Josh speaks.  I can’t tell you the change that has occurred.  It seems like he really has just GOT IT.  He has control of his speech and it has lasted well over a week.  This is the longest that a notable change has been observed. Last night, he had 30 minute telephone conversation with his friend – absoultely beautiful speech.

I suppose I was waiting for the fall before emailing you again for another session.  Maybe we won’t need any more – a very unusual concept in this household as Josh has needed speech therapy since he was 6 and he has just turned 14 years old.

We have really not needed to remind him to use any technique, he self corrects – this approach to his speech works.  At times, I can see Josh working at using the strategies he has learnt from you – it works  …. IT WORKS.  He practices the strategies all the time – using it at all times – he has control – he feels in control.

Last December, I searched for an approach to Josh’s speech that would work for him – he had all the ingredients for success – interest, focus and dedication – but he needed a brilliant therapist and approach.  You are unique – the long search for an approach to fluent speech that worked was worth it.

Barbara, apart from the approach to speech, it was the discussions you had with Josh about the way he feels, linking this with his speech and ability to take a different perspective on board that was also integral to the improvement.

And can I also say that Josh not only enjoyed the skype sessions, but felt respected and liked by you – so thank you for the whole package.

Forever grateful,

Ellen

 

Dear Barbara,

This letter is past due.  I’m sorry it took so long but my husband and I, wanted to personally thank-you for the unbelievable work you put into our son, Avromie.  Before we started treatments with you, we thought it would be just another try, and another large sum of money, going to waste.  At our first visit, we were able to see how your idea and way of treatment just made so much sense!!  Your patience and KNOWLEDGE was just a miracle for our son!!  When our son does practice your techniques, it’s like, (as my husband put it), as if he swallowed some sort of pill!!  Thanks again of everything.

 

Hi Barbara,

Here’s as promised, a review of the therapy:

I have been trough the online stutter therapy,

I had my first sessions for some months ago.

I chose the online therapy because, first of all it was avialable for me - it is available for everyone who has internet.

And the online stutter therapy is very diiferent from other therapies.

What I learned was that my “stutter” (we are thought in the therapy to not use the word stutter) was affected from the major areas: 1) positive thinking and feelings towards my language

2) Fosucing on my vocal chords

3) Speeking in syllables

And also, I learned that my stutter is an old habit, from producing controlled language, in the wrong way.

The goal with the online stutter therapy is a fluent, enjoyable way of speaking.

And after 5 months of therapy I feel that being very much more the case than before, and I recommend this therapy to everyone. Just make sure you have the time for it first. If it is your goal to become fluent, and you have time for it, then I suggest this approach.

Friendly regards,

Oliver

 

Dear Barbara,

I need to tell you how valuable the Dynamic Stuttering Therapy program is to my students. Your approach gives students a “new” way of speaking which they can embrace and share with their families. Being in the public schools it’s often difficult scheduling students but I find my students seek out additional time to work on their speech, because of the program’s “user friendly” units/ goals. Thank you for clearly stating the goals and objectives and providing so many appropriate techniques.  Your program has been extremely helpful to not only the stutterer but to families. Thank you.

Susan Abrahamson CCC/SLP

 

(translated from the original Hebrew testimonial)

Hi Barbara,

First of all, thank you for the online session we had. I really enjoyed talking to you and of course reviewing the natural and normal way of speaking that disappeared from me for some time. The session was very successful and I got a lot out of it. I learned a lot about myself and about the way to speak.

I understand the (treatment) approach at CTI. I know that this approach is the right one and most important the natural method of speaking.

I’m happy to share with you and help you understand the person who stutters. Even though I have always stuttered mildly, I suffered from a lack of confidence in some situations when I had to talk or express my opinions. That was certainly very frustrating and caused me discomfort and not a few times bitter disappointment.

It is absurd to say that the normal way of speaking is the natural and easy way that little children speak, without any control or “filter”. It is just speaking without thinking about how to speak; speaking the way nature meant for us to speak. As a person who stutters mildly, I absolutely know that most people who stutter monitor their speech and plan what they are going to say. This is what disrupts the speech and makes it sound unnatural, causes prolongations, ends in blocks and causes certain words and sounds to get stuck. And it’s terribly, terribly frustrating for some one who has stuttered that unfortunately people who stutter still carry have a negative stigma. The secret is to speak without any monitoring, without filters, without preparing. Simply… talk automatically so that there is a natural coordination between the brain and the whole speech system!

I still think that it is not so easy to get rid of the habit of focusing on words and doing all sorts of preparations to speak, such as changing words, prolonging words. It is really difficult for someone who has used the wrong process for speaking for many years to give up old habits and get used to speaking naturally. Making this change is not easy or simple for everyone, but it is possible and it is the only way to speak naturally without stuttering!! Practicing internal speech (speaking silently in the head) is really worthwhile. (That was what was missing for me all these years!!)

So thank you very much for helping me get back my confidence in speaking. Already, during the past few days since our session, I have felt an improvement. This is the right approach!! A great approach!!! It is the approach that gets to the source of the problem instead of the syndrome and shaping the speech.

If you would like, I would be happy to send you heartfelt recommendations so that everyone will see and will learn the importance of realizing that this is the approach that can save everyone from the problem of stuttering.

 

Hi Mrs. Dahm,

That hope that you have been well. I’m afraid that I have the bad habit that when I don’t respond to an e-mail right away I get busy with other things and manage to forget about it completely… Anyways, here’s my update. I have overall been relatively pleased with the progress that I have made toward consistently speaking correctly. I would say that one particularly positive point has been my attitude toward speaking situations in general.

I have gotten to the point where I really don’t worry about any speaking situations any more. I gave an approximately 10 minute speech at my brother’s wedding, in front of a few hundred people, and I was not nervous about stuttering beforehand. No doubt related to that fact, I spoke correctly pretty much the whole time and therefore was able to speak fluently. There was a long time when I would have probably declined that opportunity to speak for fear of stuttering, and if I had done it I would have worried so much and tried so hard to speak fluently that I would have spoken incorrectly and therefore stuttered a lot.

In general, I have been making progress toward speaking correctly more of the time. I still sometimes slip back into my old way of speaking, trying to use my mouth too much to shape and force out my words. I think that I’m usually pretty good about noticing when I’m doing that and then going back to speaking correctly. I’m still working on making the correct way of speaking more habitual. I hope that you have been well. I’ll keep you posted about how things go in the future.

All the best,

Daniel

Filed Under: clients, therapy approach Tagged With: , , , , ,

Join Barbara Dahm for an interview on Rusty Mike Radio

May 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Barbara Dahm will be joining the Afternoon Schmooze, hosted by Nettie Feldman, this Thursday from 2-4 p.m. Israel time (7-9 a.m. Eastern time) to discuss stuttering and therapy methods.

To listen live, visit the Rusty Mike Radio website at rustymikeradio.com and click Listen Live.

A podcast of the broadcast will also be available afterward – we will share the link as soon as it becomes available.

Filed Under: dynamic stuttering therapy, therapy approach

The Key To A Successful Treatment Experience

April 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Do you want to speak with ease and confidence? If you do, read on. You are about to find out how every one of my successful clients has accomplished this. If you learn from this, you will better understand what you need to do to create the automatic and natural way of speaking that you desire.

Successful clients understand that once they learn the new process, they have to repeatedly use it with awareness. They know they are not going to become normally fluent speakers overnight. Speaking in a different way is not something that will instantaneously happen, they make it happen.

In addition, they know that thoughts and actions together determine the habits that they develop. Clients succeed because of the thoughts and the actions that they take. During Stuttering Online Therapy clients are encouraged to think beyond their habitual thoughts. Successful clients are able to give up their fears as they realize that the feeling of fear is related to thoughts connected to the past. They replace old thoughts with new thoughts of joy, ease and comfort that are part of their new way of speaking.

These are three of the basic ingredients to a rewarding therapy experience.

1. The first is to have a clear intent. Focus on your intent i.e. have a clear goal of what you want. You will learn that the energy for speaking comes from the signal that your brain sends to the vocal folds as you focus on the general message that you want your listeners to hear. You will learn that your voice, not words, is the essence of talking. Make your intent the discovery of how to make your own natural voice be heard in a way that is new to you. Dynamic Stuttering Therapy is a goal-oriented therapy that shows you how to produce speech naturally. If your intent is to achieve the goals, you will find that they will become a part of you. If you intend to change, you will make the change.

2. The second ingredient to success is to be proactive. Thinking about what you should do, or knowing what thoughts would be nice to think will not help at all. You have to be the one to take action and make things happen. If you are not doing anything, you will produce nothing. The brain makes new connections through repeated experience doing the same thing. That is why repetitive practice is more important once the goals of therapy have been achieved than it is during the learning stage. Repetition of the process and making sure you do something each day to strengthen the process and create new thoughts is absolutely necessary for long-term success. Action produces results.

3. The final ingredient is to never give up. This is common sense, but unfortunately, too often people give up at the first barrier they encounter when working to achieve their goals. There are even people who go to therapy expecting failure. From the very beginning every mistake, every problem is reinforcement to their existing belief. Successful clients do not focus on and reinforce problems. Instead, they take note of every small change, and attend to how different and pleasant it feels every time they experience giving up the control of how to get words out words. They decide that they can change what they think and what they do and they do not quit until they reach their goals. They know that quitting is a waste of all the effort that was previously exerted. Successful clients see errors and setbacks as opportunities to learn that lead to improved knowledge and ability.

Some people look at how fluently successful clients are speaking and ask me what technique was used. The answer I give is that they became aware of what they needed to change, had the clear intent to change their mind and process and took the initiative to do so.

 

 

 

Filed Under: dynamic stuttering therapy, therapy approach, treatment results Tagged With:

Taking Stuttering Therapy Beyond the Clinic Setting – All About Transfer

February 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

People who stutter often say that they are able to speak fluently in the clinic, but find that their fluency disappears when they leave. This is a serious problem and I believe the solution lies in rethinking the issue of “transfer.”

One problem in “transfer” is, of course, that people want to transfer fluency. Anyone who has been following my blog knows that I don’t believe that fluency comes and goes by itself.  It is how the person’s brain functions that results in either stuttering or fluent speech. So if you are trying to be fluent and disregarding process, the results will be very disappointing.

Another problem is that people jump too quickly from being able to process speech in a way that results in fluent speech to wanting to use this way of speaking all the time. When I was a young and inexperienced clinician, I used to be happy when clients would say, “This is a wonderful way of speaking, I’m going to speak this way from now on”. Today, I realize that this is unrealistic. It takes time for the brain to accept a new way of functioning. This acceptance happens only after a period repetitive focused intention that enables the network of neurons in the brain that is now firing together to become wired together. When this happens the way of speaking becomes part of the self.

My advice to clients who have learned to process speech normally during our sessions is not to expect that because you know what to do it will happen automatically. Also, I do not want them to go and try to use this process when they are feeling anxiety and trepidation. Instead of going off into life and “trying” to speak this way, I encourage them to use the process alone and in non-threatening situations again and again and again. I want them to use this process of speaking for their own fun and enjoyment. I want them to see the relationship between process and results and I want them to get the sense of how peasant and easy it is to speak this way. As a matter of fact, I tell them not to even think of using it in any situation until they can’t wait to start using it, until it feels like the preferred thing to do. When that happens they will not be trying to do something they fear they cannot do. They will be confidently doing something they love to do. Under this circumstance, transfer will not be a threat it will be a pleasure.

Filed Under: dynamic stuttering therapy, fluent speech, speech control, therapy approach, treatment results
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