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We welcomed about ten people to our Brooklyn chapter meeting last Monday, including several SLPs and a teacher. Stavros and I led the group this month because Roisin and David were both out of town (it must be August!). The smaller group made for some interesting discussion — we talked about anxiety and stuttering, how to respond to an uptick in disfluency, and whether it’s possible to keep our NSA-style “it’s okay to stutter” perspective when we’re really struggling.
We started the meeting with a short meditation led by Stavros. After everyone had settled in, one person shared that he’s been stuttering more in his lab at grad school. We talked about what to do in this situation, whether that means voluntary stuttering, finding ways to talk about stuttering with colleagues, or something else. We also considered the possibility of letting go of the idea that this is a problem that needs to be solved — we all know that increased disfluency comes in cycles, but it’s difficult not to react with anxiety when it begins to happen again.
Another member, who has been coming to the Brooklyn chapter for a few months, talked about how the meetings have helped him: For instance, calling people on the phone has become less of a challenge. It’s amazing what simply talking to other people who stutter can do for our relationship with our speech. But he wondered if he will ever feel like it’s okay to stutter when he’s in one of those really difficult blocks. Many of us spent years feeling like stuttering was not okay — that’s a lot of time to cancel out!
Thank you to everyone who came to the August meeting, and we hope to see you all soon!
Emma and Stavros