Intimate group tonight, so we had a chance to talk about how hard it is to feel motivated to be in therapy in high school. A mentor who joined the group suggested that it is important to reach a certain level of self-acceptance with stuttering before diving into speech technique practice, and it may take a while to feel ready to do that in high school. One teen mentioned telling his teacher about his stuttering, and then he gave a speech in class about what he wanted for his future career which went really well!
We talked about using vocal fry as a strategy to ease into words that start with vowels instead of pushing hard through the beginning of the word. While speaking this way habitually has been getting some interesting press as “Kim Kardashian” speech and can be unpleasant to the listener, vocal fry when used at the right time allows the vocal folds to vibrate slower in a more relaxed manner for an easier start to voicing. For people who stutter, this can help reduce tension on that first sound, which can help if it feels like they might block.
One a different note, the mentor told a story about his “worst” experience of having someone laugh in his face when he stuttered. He then decided that it’s actually worse to have someone be condescending or patronizing as if they think he’s not intelligent. He wisely noted as his nugget of advice that stuttering is a process, and you’ll have good days and bad days. Great discussion, and note that next month our meeting is moved forward to March 12– see you then!