Anyone know or heard of a cure for stuttering?

[demosincebirth]

I've heard of some tests, for stuttering, going on with a certain drug for anxiety.

[Demeter]

1. Singing Is Supposed to Proceed Stutter Free

Different part of the brain is used...

[demosincebirth]

12. Mel Tillis

[Drum]

2. I've heard of successes with accupressure...

using very small metal points taped to strategic area of the ear/lobes.
People say that it actually works :shrug:
Also, biofeedback training...?

[demosincebirth]

9. I'd like to know of someone who's tried it and was helped by it.

I have heard too many claims about acupuncture curing almost every illness. I know it helps many.

[kaygore]

3. Speecheasy.com

My nephew who is 21, had this problem and has been very happy with his Speecheasy.

[Jed Dilligan]

4. What worked for me when I was 10

is that my parents told my brother to stop interrupting me every time I started talking. Once he stopped, I stopped stuttering.

[demosincebirth]

11. that sound reasonable.

[Quakerfriend]

5. I watched a show several years ago about a brain surgery

that is a complete cure. I'm sorry but, I don't recall anything else. However, it was quite remarkable.

I believe it may have been on 60 minutes.

[demosincebirth]

7. Thanks, but I only have a slight case of it and heard of some

meds that may help. I thought, maybe, some of you have heard, or know of someone who have been helped by meds.

[katinmn]

27. Here are some studies involving meds for stuttering

Stuttering relieved by divalproex sodium
Laurentius J.M.M. Mulder and Egilius L.H. Spierings
Neurology 2003; 61: 714.

Improvement of a patient with stuttering on levetiracetam
Maria Paola Canevini, Rosanna Chifari, and Ada Piazzini
Neurology 2002; 59: 1288.

You might be able to get copies by searching. They aren't currently free on the publisher's website. There are a lot of clinical studies involving stuttering now.

I wrote about this one back in 2001: http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/2001/A/200110209.html

Misc resources:
http://www.stuttersfa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=165
http://www.stammering.org/keys_to_understanding.html
http://www.behavenet.com/capsules/disorders/stutter.htm

[whistle]

6. Stuttering or stammering...

<snip>
Stuttering is a speech disorder in which the normal flow of speech is disrupted by frequent repetitions or prolongations of speech sounds, syllables or words or by an individual's inability to start a word. The speech disruptions may be accompanied by rapid eye blinks, tremors of the lips and/or jaw or other struggle behaviors of the face or upper body that a person who stutters may use in an attempt to speak. Certain situations, such as speaking before a group of people or talking on the telephone, tend to make stuttering more severe, whereas other situations, such as singing or speaking alone, often improve fluency.

Stuttering may also be referred to as stammering, especially in England, and by a broader term, disfluent speech. Stuttering is different from two additional speech fluency disorders, cluttering, characterized by a rapid, irregular speech and spasmodic dysphonia, a voice disorder.

What causes stuttering?
Scientists suspect a variety of causes. There is reason to believe that many forms of stuttering are genetically determined. The precise mechanisms causing stuttering are not understood.

The most common form of stuttering is thought to be developmental, that is, it is occurring in children who are in the process of developing speech and language. This relaxed type of stuttering is felt to occur when a child's speech and language abilities are unable to meet his or her verbal demands. Stuttering happens when the child searches for the correct word. Developmental stuttering is usually outgrown.

Another common form of stuttering is neurogenic. Neurogenic disorders arise from signal problems between the brain and nerves or muscles. In neurogenic stuttering, the brain is unable to coordinate adequately the different components of the speech mechanism. Neurogenic stuttering may also occur following a stroke or other type of brain injury.

Other forms of stuttering are classified as psychogenic or originating in the mind or mental activity of the brain such as thought and reasoning. Whereas at one time the major cause of stuttering was thought to be psychogenic, this type of stuttering is now known to account for only a minority of the individuals who stutter. Although individuals who stutter may develop emotional problems such as fear of meeting new people or speaking on the telephone, these problems often result from stuttering rather than causing the stuttering. Psychogenic stuttering occasionally occurs in individuals who have some types of mental illness or individuals who have experienced severe mental stress or anguish.

Scientists and clinicians have long known that stuttering may run in families and that there is a strong possibility that some forms of stuttering are, in fact, hereditary. No gene or genes for stuttering, however, have yet been found.
<more>
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/stutter.htm#what

<other links>
http://www.stammering-stuttering.co.uk/

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/j/jezer-stuttering.html

http://www.stutteringcontrol.com/fntestim.htm

Also try to google "treatment for stuttering" "cure for stuttering" or just "stuttering". Good luck

[On the Road]

8. If You Start to Get Stuck,

trying saying "Poughkeepsie."

:smoke:

[demosincebirth]

10. Say it or think it?

Where did you hear that?

[raging moderate]

16. Go to www.stutteringhelp.org, The Stuttering Foundation

The Stuttering Foundation
3100 Walnut Grove Road, Suite 603
P.O. Box 11749
Memphis, TN 38111-0749
1-800-992-9392

I am a public-school speech/language pathologist, and I do work with stuttering problems occasionally. But I would hesitate to try to help you over the Internet with your individual stuttering problems. You need a very individualized treatment plan, and usually this is best done by speech pathologists who have specialized in fluency problems. The Stuttering Foundation will be happy to send you information on speech pathologists in your area (we are also called by our old name, speech/language therapists). They are also a reliable source of information on strategies that have helped other people with stuttering problems. Many of the people running the place seem actually to have overcome stuttering problems themselves. I would like to point out that this is not as unusual as some people seem to think. Everybody stutters sometimes, everybody stutters more in certain situations, and everybody falls somewhere on a continuum. If other people act impatient when you block on a word, that is THEIR FAILURE, not yours. This impatientce is, in fact, a shocking failure in common courtesy and human empathy. Those people who do it are usually rude to others whenever they see any excuse. They are totally unaware that they themselves have weaknesses and failings for which the rest of us must exercise patience. The people who are labeled "stutterers" usually just are having slightly more numerous and/or stronger fluency failures than the average person. So the first thing to remember is that you don't have to stop all dysfluencies in your speech. Some people have increased their fluency with a little more breathiness (like a long H) at the beginning of words, or by deliberately concentrating on lengthening the vowels in the middle of the words, or by consciously dropping their shoulders and relaxing their throats. But there really is more to these techniques than my short phrases can convey. A skilled, practiced pathologist/therapist can really help so much more if they can get to know you and understand your individual needs and wishes, and then help you practice them.

[demosincebirth]

17. Thanks for your input.

I have been to speech therapists and I do very well, with no stuttering, in a "controlled environment." I just thought that someone out there may have known someone with my type (slight) of speech impediment that over came it with a type of meds.

[On the Road]

24. It Was Basically A Joke

Hence the :smoke: icon.

In the old TV show Ally McBeal, when the the neurotic lawyer John Cage had an uncontrollable stuttering fit, he would say a grounding word to stop. The word was usually "Poughkeepsie."

I actually have no idea whether this is a real method or not. it might be.

[LA lady]

13. Speech Easy or Speak Easy

There is a device that is supposed to have almost a miraculous cure rate. I saw it on a talk show and I have an acquaintance who works for them. It is called one of these names. I wil try to find out more.

http://www.news.ecu.edu/poe/1003/speecheasy.html

[kaygore]

14. This is what my nephew has

[demosincebirth]

15. I seen the show and it really helped the

person, who was very bad stutterer. I checked into the device and it is quite pricey...$4000+. Like i said, my stutter is only slight.

[Orrex]

26. If this is the device I'm thinking of...

It has been of great help to some people, but the "miraculous" cure rate is overstated. Apparently there's a process of review by which a prospective user is evalutated for suitability. If she qualifies (according to what criteria, I don't know), then the device is used and may indeed be a boon. But if she doesn't make the cut, then the device isn't used, and the illusion of a miraculous cure rate is maintained.

Again, that's only if it's the device I'm thinking of. And if so, then it would be more honest for them to say "patients are chosen for suitability and, if chosen, enjoy a very high rate of positive response."


But best of luck in any case to anyone struggling to overcome a stutter.

[panader0]

18. I knew a guy with a pretty bad problem. He could get stuck for

quite a while on one word, just droning, unable to get it out. He is a very intelligent person. He took LSD on occasion, and never stuttered once while tripping.

[demosincebirth]

23. Thanks. I think I'll pass on that LSD cure for now

[raging moderate]

19. The Stuttering Foundation did say there are new tools being studied.

Of course, I can't spend much time on their work, with my large and diverse caseload. But you might check in with them. Many times, a problem that absolutely stumped you when you were a child or a teen will be quite manageable once you reach full adulthood, especially with the benefit of some fresh approaches/techniques/mechanisms. This is true not only for speech/language problems, but also for others. It sounds as though you would be a promising candidate, since you did so well in controlled situations. You just need to extend and generalize the more relaxed speech patterns. I wish you good luck, and I bet you will do it!

[Trajan]

20. I would second Raging Moderate's advice ...

I was a stutterer as a preteen, and a lisper, and I couldn't pronounce 'R's correctly either ...

In 5th grade, I was placed under the care of a school speech pathologist for approx one semester.

We went through each problem area every session, relearning how to properly pronounce 'esses' and 'ar's' .... The correct positions and movements of the lips, teeth, jaw, and tongue were drilled into me for over three months .... I have never forgotten this wonderful help ....

To relieve my stuttering issues: I was taught TWO specific lessons ....

1) SLOW DOWN - Giving your mind time to properly formulate a statement allows you to speak without overrunning your thoughts .... I often stammered because I was not yet ready to state anything, since I was still thinking of what I wanted to say .... I would begin speaking before my mind was ready with the words .... I now will sit and ponder for a moment before I even open my mouth (which in itself pays dividends), and make sure I know what I am going to say before I even begin .... or pretty much so ..... When I dont ? : I will still occasionally stammer, but rarely very long ....

2) BREATHE OUT - When you speak, you should be exhaling breath with every word .... Start with an intake of air, and then breathe out with EVERY word uttered, slowly ennunciating each word that is pushed out by exhaled breath ....

I swear: BOTH of these steps were revelations for me .... They killed my stuttering almost completely, and to this day, almost 40 years later, I am rarely caught in a stammer ....

Yeah: it still happens, but when it does: I stop, take a breath, think for a moment, and then trudge on again .... It worked ...


Yes ... Speech Pathologist ..... Yes indeed ....

[Kailassa]

21. Be kind to yourself and trust others to be kind too.

In my late 20s I landed in a situation in which I could achieve something that mattered terribly to me, but I had to enlist support, as it was a community project. So I had to communicate in general, and give a public talk every week.

And I had asperger's and agrophobia, and no self esteem after being trapped at home for years looking after a handicapped child and coping with a violent abusive husband.

I could only do it becase I cared so much about a situation that a near miracle had given me the opportunity to change.

Each time I started stuttering I would stop and shut my eyes and take a breath, and give myself permission to keep stuttering. I'd use the quick break to remind myself that they were nice, patient people who were listening, who would be kind enough to not mind if I stuttered. - and the ones who weren't didn't matter. Then I'd start speaking again.

I improved, I achieved what I wanted, and nobody even guessed that I'd ever had a problem with public speaking.

IMO giving yourself permission to stutter and trusting your listener(s) are the key.

[demosincebirth]

22. I go through period of free speech flow. They usually last

about one year and then the stuttering starts again. Thats the way its been for the last ten years. Thank God that I have only a slight problem compared to others more severe. I am in one those period with the stutter.

[Celebration]

25. you could try this

Here is a binaural beats program you could try for free.

www.bwgen.com

If you like it after using it a month, you can pay a few dollars for it. All you need is a decent set of headphones. You could try listening to one of the relaxation sets for a few days and see if it helps.

There are no guarantees with this, but the price is right. I find it great for general relaxation. Speech improvement could easily follow. You would just have to try it and see.

If it works, it sure would be better than taking medication, which could have unintended side effects.

[Gregorian]

28. Yes. LinkTV had a documentary on it.

I think it was in Poland. The sutterers were extreme cases. The results were stunning. And it was essentially a support group. It included video of them and also chaparoned excursions into public areas, with interaction. Damned if I can recall the most important core bits of the process. But suffice it to say, it worked. No drugs. I'm sure you can find it on Linktv's website if you search.