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From: Alan Badmington
Date: 12 Oct 2004
Time: 07:36:29 -0500
Remote Name: 84.65.71.125
Hi Jessica, I received speech therapy, briefly, at various times in my life. The first was when I was 7/8 years and then again at around the age of 12. Neither of those consultations had any real influence upon my stutter. My recollection is that I was totally at ease within that comfortable environment - so the true extent of the problem was never apparent to the speech and language therapist (we use that term in the UK). I guess my stutter was inclined to be situational and could become quite severe when I was the focus of attention. It was always much worse when I spoke to figures of authority. Conventional speech therapy did little, or nothing, to assist and so I ventured into other areas. On one occasion (after an intensive two weeks course), I achieved virtually total fluency for about a week or so. But there was no support and so I relapsed. Support is so essential when attempting to recover from stuttering, drugs, alcohol - or whatever. I should quickly add that I have absolutely no personal experience of the latter two conditions ;-) During recent years, I learned a technique that enabled me to combat the speech block. This, coupled with a greater understanding of the psychological and physiological aspects of stuttering, and a vow that I would never again avoid any word, sound, letter or situation - had the desired effect. I dealt with my difficulties holistically, recognising that stuttering is not just a speech problem. By facing my fears head-on, and working on other areas of my life (self-esteem, assertiveness, self-confidence; self-image; communication skills; public speaking etc), my speech improved as a bi-product. I have sustained those gains and completely changed my life around. I no longer have a stuttering mindset - thoughts of stuttering are never in my head. Although stuttering was just a small part of me, I gave it too much prominence for a long time. Some days, it would totally consume my thoughts, particularly if I had encountered a bad speaking experience. My past self-image and limiting beliefs influenced my every thought and action. It precluded me from doing certain things. My new self-image encompasses all and sundry. Now, there is nothing that I will not attempt. You are what you think.....! Thank you for interest in my paper. Kindest regards Alan