Consult a speech therapist, soon. One speech therapist advises that slowing your speech is not the solution, but, for those who can't access therapy: Try deliberately slowing your speech. You could try several different talking speeds: 85?90?95?and 100?onsider your current rate of speech as being 105?a rate at which you stutter frequently. Go back to 85?then slowly increase, in stages, until you begin to stutter noticeably: then go back to 85?and work your way up to the rate before you began stuttering at a rate that you find unacceptable. Keep at that rate, for a good while, maybe later, risking stepping it up one more notch; confident that you can always work your way back up from 85?gain. Think of it in terms of modem speeds on your computer: if that speed is set too high for the connection to the ISP, there will be problems. You may well be currently "overclocking" your speech modem: the difference between your brain speed, and the rate at which you are able to speak clearly and distinctly, without stuttering markedly, is the issue. Stammering may be a symptom of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) which can be diagnosed and treated by a clinical psychologist, or psychiatrist. In the mean time, I have heard that if you start to breath out just before you begin vibrating your vocal cords to make sound, that establishes momentum that helps reduce stammering. It may be worth trying. View www.stammering.com/ and
http://www.stammering.ch/ See
http://www.stutteringhelp.org/ and
http://www.stuttering.net/ and
http://www.stutteringtreatment.org/ It may also be helpful to visit
http://your-mental-health.8m.com/blank_25.html (social anxiety is addressed there, and on page e; OCD also; see pages f, and i) about self confidence, and self esteem, and try the EFT version for use in public places, for which you can reasonably claim to have a headache, as you massage/tap your temples, at www.mercola.com SEARCHBAR "eft" and "eft therapists locator" or www.tapping.com, (13 free videos) or www.emofree.com saying/subvocalising to yourself something like: "Even though I may sometimes stutter/stammer, I deeply and completely accept myself". Stuttering is thought to involve more than speech, but also to involve your breathing pattern, and feelings. It may always be with you, to some extent, but the idea is to minimise it, and not let it hold you back in life. Read: Self-Therapy for the Stutterer by Malcolm Fraser, & Stuttering : An Integrated Approach to Its Nature and Treatment/ Edition 3, by Barry Guitar, & Stuttering : Its Nature, Diagnosis and Treatment/ Edition 3, by Edward Conture, & Stuttering : Foundations and Clinical Applications, by Ehud Yairi , Carol H. Seery, & Yoga for Stuttering: Unifying the Voice, Breath, Mind & Body to Achieve Fluent Speech by J. M. Balakrishnan, from your bookstore, Amazon.com, or BarnesAndNoble.com. Hypnotism is merely a heightened state of suggestibility, in which you are better able to communicate with your subconscious mind. 85?f people are suggestible, to some extent, so preferably consider professional hypnotherapy, or, if not an option hypnosisdownloads.com has one about stuttering, and asktheinternettherapist.com has a similar CD. ~~~ Basically, there are two approaches to the problem of stuttering: improvement of speech and improvement of attitudes toward speech, which can have the beneficial "side effect" of improving speech. Stutterers who don't get upset when they notice a stuttering block coming on tend to stutter less. The stuttering block is sort of like being in a brier patch with your clothing caught in the thorns. The more you struggle, the worse it gets. The idea is to chill at the start of the block and get out of it gracefully. Perfectionist hopes don't help. Anyway, nobody speaks perfectly. The different methods of speech improvement have one thing in common, slowing speech down. It's hard to get quality stuttering therapy from a practitioner who doesn't specialize in stuttering, and those who do are hard to access because of insurance coverage limitations. There is increasing support for self help. View
http://www.nsastutter.org/