This was the first meeting of the year because the first Thursday of the month was New Year’s Day. We were four people at the meeting, including a newcomer, Steven. We caught up with what we did during the holidays and quickly turned into other topics.
Steven talked about the way our stuttering changes and it gets better or worse in waves that he called “seasons”. A season could last hours, days or longer. Many times we don’t know how a season starts or ends. We all commented about what we think are triggers for our seasons.
We talked about disclosure and how to do it without making stuttering the topic of the conversation from that point forward. Alan, a retired SLP, suggests using humor. Make it casual and light without apologizing. For example, tell a funny story that happened to you because of your stuttering (if you happen to be at a meeting with Alan ask him to tell you his story about he and a nun in a sound booth).
We also covered how far some of us have gone to avoid speaking, such as purposefully being late to meetings to avoid introducing ourselves or pre-recording a conversation before calling a girl to ask her out.