Stuttering:Its Nature and Management By Courtney Stromsta,
Ph.D.
stuttering: its nature and managementby Courtney Stromsta,
Ph.D.Published byStuttering Foundation of America3100 Walnut Grove
Rd., Suite 603P. O. Box 11749Memphis, Tennessee 38111-0749The
Stuttering Foundation of America is a nonprofitcharitable
organization dedicated to the prevention andtreatment of
stuttering.Copyright 2008
Contents Preface v Introduction viiChapter I Introduction
1Chapter II Stuttering Defined 7Chapter III Management of
Stuttering 15Chaper IV A brief outline of therapy for stutterers
49Appendix A Phonetic Alphabet 53Appendix B Common intraphonemic
disruptions and complicating behaviors in stuttering 55
Preface C ourtney Stromsta (1922-1995) was a professor of
Speechand Hearing Science at Western Michigan University in
Kalamazoo,Michigan from 1968 to 1987. Along with Dr. Charles Van
Riper, heconducted research into the problem of stuttering, looking
for ways toimprove therapy. In 1986 he published Elements of
Stuttering which is nowavailable from the Stuttering Foundation.
Several years after his death, his daughter Sveri asked her
mother(Rose Stromsta) if there was perhaps a briefcase that Sveri
could have.They located one that had belonged to Courtney. Just as
they were reach-ing for it, Sveri said to Rose what if there is a
book manuscript in there?and indeed there was. This manuscript was
originally edited by Gordon De Young of KeyPublishing Services in
1994. It has not been re-edited for more contem-porary vocabulary.
The term stutterer while not used as frequently now,was the norm
then, and has been retained for this edition.Carroll
GuitarStuttering Foundation
Introduction I n response to requests, the information in this
book aboutthe nature and management of stuttering is a condensed
version of mymore thorough discussion of the disorder: Courtney
Stromsta, Elementsof Stuttering originally published by Atsmorts
Publishing in Ostemo,Michigan in 1986. The original material has
been condensed so as to emphasize manage-ment of stuttering and
concepts basic to its understanding. For the sake ofsimplicity,
this compendium is not referenced. Relevant references can befound
in the aforementioned text. Chapter One points out the need for
using phonetic symbols to rep-resent speech sounds. A phonetic
alphabet appears in Appendix A. Alsoincluded is an introduction to
visible speech (sound spectrography) andcoarticulation (the effect
neighboring speech sounds have on each other),concepts necessary
for an objective discussion of speech in general andstuttering in
particular. Chapter Two describes and defines the core behavior of
stuttering anddifferentiates it from reactions to stuttering and
nonfluency, the latterbeing a common commodity in normal speech.
Chapter Three discusses concepts and procedures that
collectivelyserve as an efficient means of alleviating the problem
of stuttering. Chapter Four is a useful clinical outline of Chapter
Three. Many people interested in the alleviation of stuttering have
been helpedby the material presented here. We trust you will find
it helpful also.
Chapter I Introduction T he material in this book is an attempt
to help therapists andstutterers understand (1) the core behavior
of stuttering, (2) differentreactions to stuttering, and (3) simple
procedures that serve to alleviatestuttering while paying little or
no attention to reactions (secondary symp-toms) of stuttering. The
attempt to help those interested in stuttering isaimed at reducing
the overwhelming effects that lack-of-definition or
over-inclusive-definitions of stuttering have had on theory,
research, and therapyof the disorder. The following chapters will
discuss (1) the core behavior ofstuttering as a defect in
coarticulation, (2) the development of reactions tocore stuttering,
and (3) the management of stuttering based on proceduresthat
emphasize strengthening motoric patterns of coarticulation. Before
proceeding, we must introduce a standardized set of symbolsused to
represent the sounds of speech which is needed to describe
speechspectrography and coarticulation, two concepts referred to
extensivelythroughout what follows.Symbols for Speech Sounds One
purpose of this book is to reduce the mystery in the minds of
manyabout speech in general and stuttering in particular. A major
point of con-fusion in discussing speech is that the 26 letters of
the English alphabet donot adequately represent the more than 40
basic sounds produced whenwe speak. Consider the following: The
letter o has a different sound whenwe say each of the following
words: do, go, dove, not, woman, women.In contrast, the speech
sound /I/ is represented by a in courage, ay inMonday, e in pretty,
in ea in fear, ee in been, i in bit, ie in sieve, u in busy,o in
women, y in cyst, and so forth. 1
2 Introduction Learning to identify speech sounds by means of
phonetic symbols isimportant for the analysis and management of
stuttering. An abbreviatedphonetic alphabet is included as Appendix
A. Stutterers should spend timestudying it and practice analyzing
spoken words. Sound Learning to identify speech sounds
Spectrography by means of phonetic symbols is important Just as the
micro- scope revolutionized medical science hun- dreds of years
ago, sovisible speech (sound spectrography) revolutionized speech
science someforty years ago. It did so by showing how neighboring
speech soundsdrastically affect each other when they are connected
together in runningspeech. Before this important discovery, speech
sounds were assumed tobe like separate beads on a string, with any
given speech sound being thesame, no matter what other speech
sounds preceded or followed it. Figure 1.1 is a sound spectrogram.
It displays the two sounds of I (thepersonal pronoun) or eye (the
organ of vision) blended slowly at the leftand normally at the
right. The vertical dimension represents frequency ofFigure
1.1vibration, from low to high; the horizontal dimension represents
passageof time in seconds, and the lightness and darkness of the
markings repre-sents softness-to-loudness of the recorded signal.
Note the horizontal darkbars. They symbolize bands of frequencies
resonated in various cavities ofthe vocal tract (mouth, throat, and
nasal cavity). During speech, shapesof the cavities are changed by
movements of the articulators (lips, tongue,etc.) resulting in
changes of resonated frequencies. The upward and down-ward bending
of the horizontal bars are called transitions, which
indicatechanges in the frequency components of the signal caused by
movements
Introduction 3of the articulators. Thus, the blending of the
two sounds in Figure 1.1forms a transition. Note also the vertical
striations which indicate theopening and closing of the vocal folds
during phonation (voice). Thus, asound spectrogram is a unique and
extremely valuable visual display of thefrequency and intensity
changes caused by the ever-changing vocal-tractshapes in speech
generated by movements of the articulators.Coarticulation Although
rates of speech as high as 18 sounds per second are not uncom-mon,
the average rate of normal speech is about 12.5 sounds per
second.But even 12.5 sounds per second seems improbable because
none of thearticulators can move in excess of about 8 times per
second. The explana-tion for this discrepancy comes from research
which suggests that speech isneither neurally programmed nor
produced on a sound-by-sound basis. Speech science has shown that
the speech mechanism generates differ-ent movement patterns for a
given sound, depending on what particularsounds precede and follow
it. For example, the articulators anticipatefollowing sounds by
moving toward or into vocal-tract shapes neces-sary for the
production of sounds yet to come. Say the words SCREAMFigure
1.2
4 Introductionand SCREW in a slow and deliberate manner. This
allows you to noticehow your lips perform the fourth sound in each
sequencethe vowel /i/in SCREAM and the vowel /u/ in SCREW, before
the first sound, /s/, isinitiated. The accompanying spectrograms
illustrate the essential featureof normal speech referred to as
coarticulation. The upper part of Figure 1.2 is a visual
representation of the 17 soundsof the phrase elements of stuttering
when said normally, which can beproduced in less than one second.
The lower part of Figure 1.2 shows thatit takes nearly twice as
long to say only the 7 vowels in this phrase, whenthey are said
separately and as rapidly as possible by the same speakerafter
considerable practice. Figure 1.3 illustrates a less complex
example. Note that it takes nolonger to say the six sounds of
behold than to say only its 2 vowels asrapidly as possible after
considerable practice. Figure 1.4 illustrates howthe 6 sounds of
behold can be said in the same amount of time as it takesto say the
2 vowels separately. In schematic form, Figure 1.4 illustrates
theoverlapping, or coarticulation, or adjacent sounds.
Spectrographic examples such as the foregoing offer support for
view-Figure 1.3ing speech as a series of vowel sounds that are
initiated, interconnected,and terminated by superimposed or
overlapping consonants. Viewingspeech in such a manner takes into
account the structure and the attach-ments of the articulators, for
examplethe tonguewhich is in con-tinuous motion during speech.
Because of its external and internal musclesystems, the tongue is
capable of doing different things simultaneously.The shapes of the
tip, blade, and dorsum of the tongue can be individuallyaltered so
as to contribute simultaneously to vocal-tract shapes
necessary
Introduction 5Figure 1.4for producing consonants as well as
vowels, a basic factor underlying thecoarticulation of speech
sounds. Along with other articulators, the struc-ture and
attachments of the tongue allow certain parts of it to be
involvedin producing one sound while, at the same time, other parts
either lagbehind because of the preceding sounds, or move toward
and into vocal-tract shapes for sounds yet to come. Courtney
Stromsta receiving his Ph.D. Graduation Day at Ohio State
University
At an IALP Banquet overseas.
Chapter II Stuttering Defined T he availability of visible
speech in the early 1950s allowedspectrographic analysis of speech
disruptions exhibited for less than sixmonths by preschool children
labeled as stutterers by their parents. Theanalyses were then
related to the fluency of the children ten years later. The results
indicated that repetitions marked by (1) within-soundor
within-syllable disruptions, and (2) abnormal arrests of
adequatelyinitiated phonation (vocal cord production of sounds),
both of whichwere significantly related to stuttering in the same
children ten years later.The foregoing repetitions involved sudden
disruption of sounds withintheir normally expected durations. This
distinction we call intraphonemicdisruption. Such disruptions
generally occur within vowels, resulting inpart-sound or
part-syllable repetitions. Before proceeding, we must make clear
the Intraphonemic disruptionsudden concept of the intropho-
disruption of sounds within their nemic disruption which normally
expected durations we define as the core of stuttering behavior.
The sound spec-trogram shown in Figure 2.1 illustrates the core
behavior of stutter-ing on the I (personal pronoun) or eye (visual
organ). Theinitial repetitions involved adequate initiation of
phonation (vocal cordactivity), as shown by the vertical
striations. Note that phonation isarrested within the expected
duration of /a/. As a result, the repetitions showan absence of
transition, indicating lack of, or faulty, coarticulation, as if
thefollowing sound was not anticipated and prepared for. In
constrast, preschool children labeled as stutterers by their
parents,whose whole-sound, whole-syllable, or whole-word
repetitions did not involve 7
8 Stuttering DefinedFigure 2.1intraphonemic disruptions were,
with high probability, not exhibitingeither the core behavior or
the complicating behaviors of stuttering tenyears later.
Repetitions of this nature represent nonfluency in comparison to
thepart-sound part-syllable repetitions of the core behavior of
stuttering.Spectrographic examples of nonfluency, the type of
speech disruptionsthat does not indicate a prognosis of stuttering,
follow.Figure 2.2
Stuttering Defined 9Examples of Nonfluency Figure 2.2 is a
sound spectrogram of a three year, six month old girllabeled as a
stutterer because of excessive repetitions. Here she repeats
theword I /ai / three times in attempting to say I WANNA SAY. In
each initialI, frequency shift or transition occurs, as indicated
by (T), showing thatthe repetitions were whole-word utterances.
Whereas the initial I in eachpair of repetitions was an isolated
word, the second I of each pair wasinfluenced by the following
sounds. Evidence of airflow at the termina-tion of repetitions is
indicated by (A). Preschool children judged not to bestuttering ten
years later showed evidence of airflow through the speechmechanism
between their whole-sound, whole-syllable, or
whole-wordrepetitions. Repetitions of this nature indicated
normalization of speech,with or without therapy, typically by the
age of six years. The sound spectrogram shown in Figure 2.3
displays whole-sound rep-etitions of a four year, five month old
boy labeled as a stutterer attemptingto say WIN. Because W is
actually /u/ blended into the following vowel,transitions shown by
(T) in the repetitions indicate they were whole-soundrepetitions of
the diphthong /ui / preceding the utterance of WIN. Evidenceof
airflow at the termination of the repetitions is indicated by (A).
As inFigure 2.3the previous example, repetitions of this nature
indicated normalization ofspeech, with or without therapy,
typically by the age of six years.
10 Stuttering Defined Following are spectrographic
illustrations of intraphonemic disruptions,the type of speech
pattern that indicates a prognosis of stuttering.Examples of Core
Stuttering Figure 2.4 is a sound spectrogram that displays a four
year six monthold boy (labeled as a stutterer), attempting to say
APPLE. His first twoattempts resulted in arrests of phonation
without evidence of airflow attheir termination. Preschool children
judged to be stuttering ten yearslater characteristically did not
show evidence of breathstream at the ter-mination of their
repetitions. This childs intraphonemic disruptions of /ae/Figure
2.4caused both attempts to be of shorter duration than the third
/ae a/, whichshowed a deflection of frequencies as evidence of
normal transition to thefollowing /p/. Repetitions of this nature
were related to the child beingjudged as stuttering ten years
later, even with therapy. The attempt of a four year eight month
old boy labeled as a stutterer tosay ICE CREAM is shown in Figure
2.5. His first two attempts to utter thediphthong /ai/ of ICE were
disrupted within the normal duration of /a/. Inother words, /a/ did
not last long enough for a transition to be made into/I/, giving
rise to the intraphonemic disruption symbolized by /a/.
Airflowbetween repetitions was not in evidence. As with the
previous example,repetitions of this nature were related to the
stuttering of the child tenyears later, even with therapy.
Stuttering Defined 11Figure 2.5Reactions to Core Stuttering
During this longitudinal study, preschool children who exhibited
intra-phonemic disruptions were observed to initiate a typical
progression ofreactionscomplicating behaviors, secondary symptoms,
call them whatyou maywithin about six months after exhibiting their
unique repeti-tions. Along with core repetitions, the progression
of reactions involvedfixed or static positions of the speech
mechanism. The first reaction wasprolongations of initial sounds
marked by normal initiation of voiced orvoiceless breathstream. As
pointed out earlier, the core behavior of stuttering involved
disrup-tion of adequately initiated sounds WITHIN their usual
duration. On theother hand, the progression of reactions to core
stuttering involved fixedpositions of the speech mechanism that
exceeded the usual or normaldurations of the involved sounds. In
the case of prolonged voiced or voice-less stop plosives /p/, /b/,
/t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ and affricatives /t, 3/, the vocaltract was not
completely blocked, allowing passage of voiced or
voicelessbreathstream, for example, BOBBY. Later, along with
increased struggle and force, prolongations ofnormally initiated
voiced stops and affricatives were arrested afterabout one-third of
a second. Such complete arrests were apparentlycaused by complete
blockage of voiced breathstream through thespeech mechanism.
Stutterers and nonstutterers can appreciate this effect of
completearrest of phonation (voice) by tightly pressing your lips
together, com-pletely pinching off your nostrils, and then trying
to maintain phonationas you prolong /b/ or /d/ or /g/. Doing so
arrests phonation after aboutone-third of a second as found in
young stutters when articulatory occlu-
12 Stuttering Definedsions occurred in association with
struggle and force in their developmentof reactions to core
stuttering - intraphonemic disruptions.Examples of Reactions to
Core Stuttering Figure 2.6 is a display of the same child shown in
Figure 2.5 but recordedseven months after originally seen. At this
point the childs speech wascharacterized by prolongations of
initial sounds, an example of which isFigure 2.6Figure 2.7
Stuttering Defined 13shown as the child saying RAINING as
//u/-u ueinn/.There was no evidence of struggle or force or trouble
initiating voiced orvoiceless airflow in his speech attempts.
Figure 2.7 shows the same child shown in Figures 2.5 and 2.6,
recorded13 months after originally seen, at which time it took him
13 seconds to saythe word INDIAN. At this latter time, struggle and
force were first in evi-dence, as were prolongations of initial
sounds, marked (P), intraphonemicdisruptionsthe core behavior of
stutteringmarked (ID), and inabilityto initiate phonation, marked
(XP). The same child recorded 2 years and 10 months after
originally seenshowed inability to initiate either voiced or
voiceless airstream, resultingin tonic blocks, that is, complete
stoppages of speech. Release from suchstatic positions took the
form of repeated unphonated initial sounds,shown in Figure 2.8 as
he said I LIKE.Figure 2.8 At the same time, extreme forms of
struggle and force were in evidence,as shown by the high-level
intensity prolongations of /s/ in Figure 2.9, asthe child attempted
to say SCRATCH YOU as /skaetu/. In their early stage of
development, sustained forceful blockages weregenerally released
after one or two seconds and then reformed again oneto several
times before successful utterance. Later in development,
thesustained occlusions for voiced stops and affricatives were
maintained forlonger durations, sometimes several seconds before
successful utterance.It was during this stage of development of
reactions to the core behaviorof stuttering that prolongations of
voiced and voiceless stops and affrica-
14 Stuttering DefinedFigure 2.9tives were observed to be
arrested by complete blockage of breathstreamthrough the speech
mechanism. Arrests of adequately initiated prolongations of both
voiced and voice-less stops and affricatives were followed by the
onset of abnormal initia-tions of voiced and voiceless breathstream
for stops and affricatives aswell as for phonemes not requiring
momentary articulatory occlusion.For the most part, it was only at
this stage of development of reactionsto core stuttering that
analysis of recordings of stuttering and nonstut-tering children
revealed aberrations of onsets of phonation in
stutterers.Intermingled with the advent of difficulty and/or
inability in initiatingvoiced and voiceless breathstream was the
onset of the myriad of differingcomplicating behaviors commonly
referred to as secondary symptoms oraccessory features of
stuttering. Working at his desk in the 1960s in Columbus, OH.
Chapter III Management of Stuttering T herapy for stuttering
can be simplified. It is accomplished byanalyzing what the speaker
is doing incorrectly and by strengthening whathas to be done to
normalize speech production within the limits of each individual.
Doing so simplifies the problem Therapy for stuttering can be and
leads to its allevia- simplified tion among stutterers. Specifying
the core behavior of stuttering aswithin-sound or within-syllable
disruption leaves little to ones imagina-tion. Realizing that most
of what is generally called stuttering are reactionsto core
stuttering points out the necessity of managing the core
behavior.Whereas all who stutter cannot be expected to comprehend
the subjectmatter of this booklet, they can be expected to
accomplish what therapyhas to offer if organized by those who do
understand this material.Procedures in Therapy The following
procedures have been segmented to emphasize theirsequence and to
organize their discussion. Doing so does not mean thateach phase
should be completed before those that follow it. The objectiveof
therapy should be to integrate the various issues into a meaningful
andproductive end product. 15
16 Management of Stuttering Phase One A practical first step in
therapy is to understand the limitations of ourpresently held
knowledge about speech. Recognizing the limits of informa-tion
about speech puts to rest many unanswerable questions that
plaguethe minds of stutterers, questions that otherwise often serve
as deterrentsto progress in therapy. If such a discussion is not
practical in this or anyother phase of therapy because of age or
lack of capacity to intellectual-ize it, appreciating the limits of
information about speech should at leastinfluence the thinking and
procedures used by therapists. Stutterers as well as therapists
should realize that no matter how sim-ply one tries to explain and
describe the process of speaking, researchhas shown its unbounded
complexity. What must be realized is that thevarious systems of the
body which collectively and synchronously gener-ate speech are in
some manner directed, monitored, and controlled by anestimated
140,000 neural events every second and that our presently
heldinformation about neurophysiology is still in its infant stage.
Whereasmeanings of words are reasonably thought to be acquired by
associativelearning, how humans acquire their competence for
speaking cannot beaccounted for by presently held learning
theories. Recognition of this dilemma has led to the proposal that
the basiccompetence for speech is a capacity possessed by mankind
at birth.Conceivably we possess a predisposition for speech, a
genetic endowmentfor a complex instinctual behavior that with
subsequent maturation andenvironmental exposure, generally
manifests itself at a certain level ofneuromuscular development.
Thus speech, as we know it, has been termedan automatism, that is,
a motor behavior integrated and controlled at asubconscious level,
such as walking, swallowing, and respiration. Whereassuch motor
behaviors can be modified within certain limitsan importantpoint to
be considered in therapyfor the most part they occur
withoutawareness or understanding on our part. Recognizing that the
complexity of speech is not understood has animportant implication
in therapy. The point is that therapists and stutter-ers are led to
entertain the possibility that we are programmed for speechand that
whereas most people speak within an acceptable range, somespeak
better and some less well. With such information, stutterers
eventually perceive that they mustaccept what they have in terms of
a personal speech program and attemptto modify it by using, to
their best advantage, factual information that iscurrently
available. Appreciating the complexity of speech and how farwe
still have to go in terms of understanding it serves to establish
real-istic limits as to what stutterers can expect of clinical
procedures. Asa result, stutterers eventually respect and place a
premium on clinicalprocedures that strengthen basic behaviors
related to normal speechand which can be expected to alleviate
their stuttering as well as the
Management of Stuttering 17complicating behaviors that
unalleviated stuttering serves to gener-ate. Thus, this initial
phase of therapy forms a basis for informed actionrather than
uninformed reaction or lack of action that stems from wishful
thinking and miscon- ceptions about the Informed action rather than
speech process. Even uninformed reaction though it is highly rel-
evant, this initial phase of therapy need not beover done. Its
purpose is to serve as a preface for a discussion of whatis known
about the elements of normal speech production, somethingagainst
which stutterers need to compare their own stuttering. Phase Two If
appropriately based on age and/or capacity to intellectualize it,
adiscussion of the basic elements of normal speech is of importance
forstutterers eventual understanding of the core behavior of
stuttering.Pointing out that speech is a physical event serves to
preface the mainissues to be stressed in the second phase of
therapy: (1) that normalspeech production is characterized by
continual movement of the speechmechanism, and (2) that the
continual movement of the speech mecha-nism involves anticipation
of and actual physical preparation for soundsthat follow the
initial sounds of syllables or words. Appreciation of these
important features of normal speech can be devel-oped further by
using material cited earlier. For example, discussing theproduction
of I /ai / points out the necessity of movement involved in
theblending of the two sounds. It also presents an opportunity to
introducethe importance of using phonetic symbols to represent
sounds of speech inplace of the nonproductive use of letter from
our written alphabet. Use ofexamples and sound spectrograms such as
Figures 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 serveto impress upon them the variability
of coarticulation in normal speechproduction. Realizing that the 18
sounds of the phrase elements of stutteringcan be said in half the
time it takes to produce only seven of its soundsin isolation
provides unquestionable evidence concerning the necessity
ofcoarticulating sounds in normal speech. Therapists should
emphasize this second phase of therapy during theirinitial sessions
with stutterers. Our experience has been that most stut-terers
acquire the basic idea about coarticulation and its importance
inspeech production in less time than would be expected.
Nonetheless, thisconcept, as well as others to be discussed, should
be elaborated upon asthe need arises throughout the course of
therapy. The purpose and need for this second phase of therapy
relates to thefact that many authors, and hence many therapists,
stress that stutter-ers should be objective about their stuttering.
The fact is that most
18 Management of Stutteringstutterers never do figure out what
therapists mean by that statement.However, the advice is
reasonable, but only if stutterers first becomeobjective about
speech in general by knowing something practical aboutit, and then
only if stutterers develop a practical definition of stuttering.The
latter topic serves as the focal point in the third phase of
therapy. Phase Three The degree to which stutterers can recognize
the core behavior ofstuttering is of prime importance to therapy.
The more practical their per-sonally held definition of stuttering
and the more logical their expectationof what to do about it, the
more probable are their chances of unravelingwhat to them is the
complexity of their problem. Stutterers must recognizeand
systematize the components of their problem of stuttering if
commonsense is to prevail. After initially discussing what is known
about speech in general, a prac-tical way to introduce the
recognition of the core behavior of stuttering isto wait until an
example of it occurs in the clients speech. While disregard-ing all
complicating behaviors, when an intraphonemic disruption occurs,
thetherapist should judiciously interrupt and ask What just
happened inyour speech? Commonplace responses are, Nothing, or I
dont know.Therapists should prepare the client for further
interruptions and repeatthe question when other intraphonemic
disruptions occur. This simpleprocedure serves to swing the
stutterers attention away from the myriadof usually involved
complicating behaviors and brings into focus the factthat basic
features of normal speech production are being violated in thecore
behavior of stuttering, namely, faulty coarticulation, resulting
inabnormal terminations of adequately initiated phonation. Use of
examples and spectrograms included Basic features of normal speech
in Chapter Two help production are being violated in the stutterers
understand core behavior of stutteringfaulty what to become aware
coarticulation of in their speech, but equally impor- tant, what to
disre-gard. It is at this point in therapy that many therapists use
audioand video recorders, yet it has been our experience that
analy-sis is best done in real time, in other words, as the
instances ofstuttering occur. It is also at this time that use of
phonetic symbols torepresent speech production can be reinforced
again as a potentiallyuseful and productive tool. An efficient way
to begin the identification and analysis of intraphone-mic
disruptions is to use simple examples as they occur in the
stutterersspeech. Most stutterers display such disruptions on the
often used
Management of Stuttering 19personal pronoun I /ai /. When such
disruptions occur, the therapistshould ask the client, How many
sounds are in the word I? The usualanswer is, One, which is in fact
what they are producingonly abbre-viated versions of the first
sound without anticipation of what follows.Have the client say the
word I slowly. While so doing, many make theimportant discovery
that I actually has two sounds. Have them saythe two sounds in
isolation. Have them prepare for the second soundprior to blending
the two sounds together deliberately and smoothly. Showthem Figure
1.1 which displays the two sounds blended slowly (left) andnormally
(right). The procedure serves to emphasize that letters usedto
write words and sounds used to utter letters are grossly and
importantlydifferent. Those who do not readily recognize this basic
difference mustbe helped in doing so. Whatever the case may be,
identifying the corebehavior of stuttering early in therapy serves
an important function. For one thing, stutterers quickly realize
that, based on correct informa-tion, they can utter words
successfully even when the words are fearedand when they anticipate
stuttering. It also provides an initial opportunityto point out the
difference between stuttering and the uselessness of reac-tions to
stuttering which take the form of complicating behaviors thatmake
successful utterances improbable if not impossible. To further
thestutterers appreciating of the uselessness of complicating
behaviors, pointout that research has shown that such reactions are
not present whenchildren first exhibit stuttering; that if basic
stuttering persists in children,they eventually develop
prolongations of sounds, then complete stoppagesof speech, and
eventually difficulty in initiating phonation; and that theselatter
reactions, in turn, give rise to other useless behaviors that
furthercomplicate the speech and lives of stutterers. Discussing
complicating behaviors early in therapy is not for thepurpose of
analyzing them. Why analyze something that serves no usefulpurpose?
In contrast, the purpose is merely to clarify that
complicatingbehaviors develop because basic stuttering is not
recognized and thatsomething constructive has not been done about
it. This lack of under-standing and lack of positive action
generates confusion, apprehension,and tensions that instigate
uninformed reactions. It helps to point out some-thing important:
that stutterers as well as therapists make the mistake ofregarding
as important only the gross and therefore more apparent
com-plicating behaviors that serve to characterize ill-fated speech
attempts. Indoing so, they fail to realize the importance of the
basic and less frequentintraphonemic disruptions that either are
not recognized, or, if recognized,are minimized in importance as
something not to be concerned about. Pointout that intraphonemic
disruptions occur less frequently only because
complicatingbehaviors develop so as to minimize the occurrence of
intraphonemic disruptions. It follows that stutterers should
prepare for the eventuality of anincrease in basic stuttering as
complicating behaviors are decreased.It should be made logical that
such an increase in basic stuttering is to be
20 Management of Stutteringexpected at this stage of therapy.
The increase of basic stuttering providesthe material needed for
stutterers to identify and systematize their disrup-tions, an
important step toward strengthening behavioral patterns relatedto
the alleviation of stuttering. Before discussing alleviation of
stuttering, it should be pointed out thatstutterers differ as to
what it takes for them to discriminate and appreciatethe difference
between their basic stuttering and their reactions to stutter-ing
that take the form of complicating behaviors. Early in therapy,
stut-terers exhibit a confounding mixture of basic stuttering and
reactions tostuttering. Many stutterers require only a minimal
amount of analyzingand systematizing their stuttering in order to
differentiate their intrap-honemic disruptions from their
complicating behaviors and to realize therole of faulty
coarticulation in their basic disruptions. Others find the taskmore
difficult. Whatever the case may be, recognition of numerous
anddiffering examples of intraphonemic disruptions help in planning
theirsystematic alleviation. A practical way of doing this is based
on statistics oflanguage. If the minimal unit of speech is taken to
be the syllable, surveyshave shown that, where C = consonant and V
= vowel: 1. about 60% of all we say are syllables in which
consonants are used to initiate vowelsCVC, CV, CVCC, 2. about 25%
of all we say are syllables in which initial vowels are terminated
by consonantsVC, VCC, 3. about 10% of all we say are syllables
composed of blended vowelsVV, and, 4. about 5% of all we say are
syllables in which vowels are initiated by blends or clusters of
consonantsCCVC, CCV, CCVCC. Since the loci of intraphonemic
disruptions vary in different syllables,knowledge of the foregoing
statistics provides a basis for instances ofintraphonemic
disruptions to be at least initially categorized as to the typeof
syllable in which they occur, this in place of their remaining
little morethan a disorganized collection of events. It is
sufficient for many stutterersthat their basic stuttering be only
superficially analyzed and systematized,while, at the same time,
completely disregarding their complicating behav-iors. For those
who find the task difficult, Appendix B lists common intra-phonemic
disruptions (stuttering) and complicating behaviors (reactionsto
stuttering) associated with various categories of syllables. The
third phase of therapy involves still another factor. If not
attended to,the issue of nonfluency serves to confound this phase
of therapy, which is aimedat answering the question, What is
stuttering? If left undefined and misun-derstood, use of the term
nonfluency by those interested in stuttering does moreto muddy the
waters of recognizing and understanding stuttering than anyother
one factor, with the possible exception of those who would place
stutter-ing entirely within the province of psychology and
psychiatry. It is important that stutterers recognize that many of
their reactions totheir dysfluencies take the form of nonfluencies
used to minimize the pres-ence of intraphonemic disruptions. It
should be emphasized that whereas
Management of Stuttering 21normal speakers attempt to be
fluent, few if any attain their goal. In otherwords, normal
impromptu speech is characterized by various degrees ofnonfluency.
Therefore, the point is not that stutterers should expect
theirspeech to be free of nonfluencies. Rather, stutterers should
realize that nonfluencies, if unrec- ognized for what they Normal
impromptu speech is are and what purpose characterized by various
degrees they actually serve, can confound their ability of
nonfluency to isolate and analyze intraphonemic disrup- tions.
Anyone who takesthe time to observe the role of nonfluencies in the
everyday impromptuspeech of others will soon appreciate how
nonfluencies make normalspeech as well as stuttering more complex
than it has to be. Phase Four The fourth phase of therapy is an
extension of the third phase.Separating it emphasizes its
importance. Being able to discriminatethe core behavior of
stuttering from complicating behaviors caused byuninformed
reactions, leads one to question what can be done about
basicstuttering. Constructive action involves bridging the gap
between facts aboutstuttering and facts about normal motor speech.
A practical way of bridg-ing this gap is to establish the
percentage of speech in which a stuttereractually stutters, that
is, exhibits intraphonemic disruptions. Stutterershave the tendency
to exaggerate the percentage. They continue to exag-gerate this
percentage until they can identify their complicating
behavior,among which are nonfluencies, and separate them from their
basic stutter-ing. A way of calculating the percentage of core
stuttering is to count thetotal number of syllables spoken and
divide it into the number of syllablesin which intraphonemic
disruptions occur. Tape recorded samples servethis purpose well.
Repeating the procedure in several sessions and underdiffering
conditions provides a reasonable estimate of the percentage
ofspeech in which core stuttering occurs. Such estimates indicate
that stutterers actually stutter in somewherebetween 5% and 25% of
their speech. Most stutterers fail to realize thattheir speech
falls within the broad limits of normal speech anywhere from75% to
95% of the time. Such knowledge can serve as proof that in
largemeasure stutterers possess the program for normal speech.
Meanwhile,having analyzed and systematized their intraphonemic
disruptions asthey do in their third phase of therapy, stutterers
will recognize that theirdisruptions involve faulty coarticulation
of particular syllables andsound combinations more than others.
Equally important, the process of
22 Management of Stutteringanalyzing and systematizing bears
out the fact that their intraphonemicdisruptions are inconsistent.
In other words, the process of separating complicating behaviors
from core stuttering Stutterers possess the program for shows that
stutterers normal speech have the program for normal speech even
for the percentage of theirspeech that is most consistently at
fault. The foregoing issues and procedures serve to simplify the
problemof stuttering. Isolating and understanding what constitutes
the corebehavior of stuttering breaks down the complexity of the
problem ofstuttering into elements that for the first time appear
manageable.However, knowing what one is doing as compared to what
one should bedoing is not enough. How to manage the difference is
the issue taken upin the next phase of therapy. Phase Five The
fifth phase of therapy is developed from the fact that the core
behav-ior of stuttering is inconsistent. In other words, stutterers
have the pro-gram for normal speech even for the small percentage
of their speech thatis dysfluent. The inconsistent
dysfluenciesintraphonemic disruptions are due to incorrect
coarticulation of speech When correctly coarticulated, sounds and
arrests of arrests of phonation do not occur. adequately initiated
phonation. The same syllables or words whenuttered without
dysfluency are correctly coarticulated. When
correctlycoarticulated, arrests of phonation do not occur. When
asked how someone should go about improving motor behav-iors other
than speech, many stutterers are capable of figuring out acommon
sense approach to alleviating the core behavior of their
stut-tering. In essence, the procedure is simple. What is needed is
practicethat strengthens the desirable behavior (that which you do
acceptablywell most of the time) to the point that it competes with
and eventuallydisplaces the undesirable behavior (that which you do
unacceptablysome of the time). Practicing what is correct is so
obviously therapeuticthat it is generally ignored. An important
part of the therapeutic procedure is to practice andstrengthen
coarticulation when not stuttering. This approach is in contrastto
the tendency of stutterers to wait until dysfluency occurs before
try-ing to do something about it, a procedure not in line with
common sense.Winning football teams practice much more than they
actually play. They
Management of Stuttering 23do not wait for actual games to
correct errors in fundamental procedures.Rather, they practice so
as to strengthen correct and productive behav-iors to the point
that they are predictable under the stresses inherent inactual
games. Professional golfers work out inadequacies of their
golfswings on practice ranges by correctly blending or
coarticulating thesegments of their swing during hours of practice
rather than waiting forinadequate shots to appear during tournament
play. Downhill skiers prac-tice fundamentals so as to perfect
complex blending of body movementsas they anticipate and prepare
for the shifting of weight on their skiisbefore expecting such
maneuvers to occur reflexively for the purpose ofsurvival during
tortuous downhill runs. So it is with fly-casting, keyboard-ing,
knitting, working a loom, or any other motor behavior that we
hopeto improve. Waiting for inadequate performance to occur before
doingsomething about it turns out to be an inefficient approach.
Knowing whatone must do for adequate performance is the basis for
intelligence practice,resulting in skillful execution that
minimizes inadequacies. A method that simplifies practice of skills
related to alleviating intra-phonemic disruptions is based on
anticipating and actually preparing forthe second sound of the
syllable to be uttered. When prepared for thesecond sound,
stutterers should make the first sound as a strong
voluntarymovement into and through the following sounds. As
mentioned previ-ously, even though speech is an automatism, one can
voluntarily modifyit within certain limits. As it is with ones
attempts to change any motoricbehavior, anticipating and preparing
for the second sound of each wordto be uttered and producing the
first sound as a deliberate strong smoothmovement into and through
the following sounds seems strange anddifficult when first
attempted. A good way to start is as follows: 1. Prepare for the
second sound and say it aloud so both the stutterer and the
therapist can verify that it is the appropriate sound, 2. When
verified as correct, say the second sound aloud again and maintain
the assumed posture of the speech mechanism, 3. Produce the first
sound as a deliberate strong smooth movement into and through the
following sounds. Following the foregoing procedure on the
beginning of every word dur-ing therapy sessions, as well as in
other periods of time each day as mate-rial is read aloud, serves
to establish the pattern. However, certain thingsshould be kept in
mind as one begins this procedure of strengtheningcoarticulation.
Telling stutterers to be deliberate in their early attempts isoften
misinterpreted as meaning do it slowly. Slow speech or rate
con-trol should not be the object of this procedure. Each
individual, as he orshe begins this procedure, should do it at a
pace that allows mastery ofthe procedure. It should also be pointed
out that deliberateness involvedin the initial stage of developing
the procedure tends to cause distortionof many speech sounds. This
is to be expected. Research has shown thattransitions between
speech sounds are of relatively equal duration at vari-
24 Management of Stutteringous rates of speech. It should also
be appreciated that in producing thefirst sound, in many instances,
one will alter the posture assumed for thesecond sound. However, in
such cases, a plan has been established, andone knows where he or
she is going as movement is made from the firstsound to those that
follow it. As it is in normal speech, which is charac-terized by
coarticulation, anticipation of and preparation for the secondsound
will also affect how the first sound is produced. Making the
movements deliberate provides the time needed for the vol-untary
control of the speech process. Making the movements strong
andsmooth strengthens the motor behavior patterns of coarticulating
speechsounds. During the early stages of developing the procedure,
concern is often expressed by stut- terers as to whether or Develop
and strengthen the pattern of not the procedure will coarticulation
result in their learn- ing to habitually speak slowly and
forcefully.Stutterers can rest assured that their speech will speed
up reflexively alltoo soon. Their concern should involve being
deliberate in their speechlong enough to develop and strengthen the
pattern of coarticulation thatwill eventually alleviate their
intraphonemic disruptions. While continuing to strengthen
coarticulation on every word, one cansense when the procedure is
becoming established. It takes progressivelyless time as well as
less mental and physical effort to do it correctly. Oneshould
resist the urge to cut short this initial stage of understanding
anddeliberate application of the concept of coarticulation to every
word.When the procedure is established for the beginning of every
word, theroutine should be varied. Self-discipline and self control
can be developedpracticing the procedure on the first of every two
words, later, on the firstof every three words, later, on the first
of every four words, and so on.As the client works through this
progression, he or she should continueto make the movement from the
first sound into and through the antici-pated and prepared-for
second sound strong and deliberate, but say whatfollows as
naturally as possible. Again, the objective is not slow speechor
rate control. Rather, the objective is to strengthen
coarticulationthrough practice so as to reduce part-sound or
part-syllable repetitionscharacterized by intraphonemic disruptions
which, if not alleviated,generate prolongations, tonic blocks,
difficulty initiating voiced and voice-less breathstream as well as
the myriad of other complicating behaviorsexhibited by most
advanced stage stutterers. What and when to practice What to
practice and when to practice are natural concerns of stut-terers.
As mentioned earlier, clients should begin by using the
procedure
Management of Stuttering 25extensively in therapy sessions
where the correctness of what is beingpracticed can be monitored by
others. Classifying intraphonemic disrup-tions as discussed in
Phase Three allows stutterers to determine on whichtypes of
syllables to concentrate their practice. Stutterers should
notetheir failures during practice, so as to identify and analyze
the loci of theinvolved intraphonemic disruptions. At this point,
it should be noted thatwhereas preparing for the second sound is
generally sufficient, preparingfor correct coarticulation is
sometimes more involved. For example, in theword court /krt/,
preparing for the // can result in its disruption because/r/ is not
coarticulated. In such a case, anticipation of and preparation
forthe third sound is necessary to alleviate the disruption of //.
When to practice, other than in therapy sessions, is a decision
that mustultimately be made by the client. A minimum of three
practice sessionseach day are recommended; more sessions are
better. Scheduling practicesessions to coincide with routine daily
activities such as mealtimes, lunchbreaks or going to and from work
or school has definite advantages.Unscheduled practice or
entertaining the idea that one will practice mostof the day
generally leads to little or no practice. Scheduled practice
ses-sions of reasonable duration are manageable and force the
client to assesswhether or not practice has actually taken place,
and if so, did it accom-plish whatever objective was planned.
Practice sessions interspersedthroughout the day lead to a
progressive spread or generalization of thepracticed activity into
periods that precede and follow the sessions. As one becomes
increasingly familiar with preparing for the secondsound and moving
into it, the procedure becomes second nature, that is,it occurs
more spontaneously, with a minimum of conscious effort.
Thisprobably stems from the fact that such practice strengthens an
innate nat-ural feature of normal speech. Whatever the case may be,
the procedure,with practice, adapts itself progressively to use in
everyday conversation. Many stutterers fail to appreciate that they
can afford to speak in a deliber-ate manner so as to emphasize the
articulation of their utterances. Stutterersshould realize that
hesitations or pausesa common commodity in normalconversational
speechcan be used to their advantage in planning and exe-cuting
coarticulation. It has been shown that most listeners prefer to
listen tospeakers who speak slowly and use more and longer pauses.
The point of the matter is that however stutterers finally ratio-
Practice when not stuttering nale their way of practic- ing
coarticulation, such practice is the price they must pay for
ultimatelyalleviating their intraphonemic disruptions, the core
behavior of stuttering.Let it be emphasized again, stutterers
should not wait for stuttering to occurto do something about it,
they should practice when not stuttering.
26 Management of Stuttering Stutterers vary as to the amount of
practice necessary before alleviationof intraphonemic disruptions
begins to occur in their everyday speech. Forsome, knowing about,
experimenting with, and understanding the impor-tance of
coarticulation serves to trigger an almost immediate applicationof
it in their everyday speech, along with a drastic reduction of
their com-plicating, or secondary, behaviors. Others need to
continue their evalua-tion and trial use of the procedure in light
of additional phases of therapynow to be discussed. Phase Six The
objective of the sixth phase of therapy is to prepare stutterers
forthe effects of emotion on their attitude and motivation in doing
what ittakes to alleviate their stuttering in the rigors of real
life. In brief, any setof conditions viewed as critical to our well
being serves to generate a setof definable internal bodily changes.
Such changes are natural and there-fore should be accepted as
normal. In effect, such internal bodily changesproduce a storehouse
of available neuromuscular potential or energyneeded for
effectively dealing with whatever confronts us as
imminentlyimportant. What we refer to as emotion is our sensory
awareness of bodilychanges necessary for and by which
accomplishment can emerge. How welabel our naturally occurring
internal bodily changes is an important issueto consider.
Unfortunately, labels such as nervousness, fear, anxiety,and
tension are commonly applied and generally indicate
undesirablefeelings. How stutterers label and react to their
awareness of their inter-nal bodily changes is an important matter
to evaluate early in therapy. Inadequate handling of disturbing
conditions such as stuttering, dueto incorrect information and lack
of related skills, predictably leads todissatisfaction and ultimate
demoralization; negative feelings and valuesare associated with the
accompanying bodily changes. On the other hand,adequate handling of
disturbing conditions such as stuttering, based oncorrect
information and related know-how, eventually leads to
self-sat-isfaction and confidence; positive feelings and values are
associated withthe accompanying internal bodily changes that
generally decrease as afunction of progress. In other words,
whereas disturbing conditions arousepredictable internal bodily
changes, ones perspective and attitude aboutour awareness of such
bodily changes depends on whether they respondwith inadequate or
adequate behavior. As one would expect, stutterers vary as to their
need for evaluating theeffects of emotion on their attitude and
motivation in doing what it takesto alleviate their stuttering.
Many stutterers enter therapy with only aneed for valid information
about what constitutes stuttering and what inspecific terms should
be done about it. With such information, they quick-ly develop
related skills and make rapid and stable progress in alleviationof
their stutteringeven in the face of emotional arousal. Others
enter
Management of Stuttering 27therapy with the notion that they
should first reduce their nervous-ness and anxiety as well as their
inferiority. Their idea seems to be thatwith reduction of such
feelings, their stuttering will disappear. They failto realize that
not understanding what constitutes stuttering and notbeing able to
cope with it has served to generate emotion to which theyhave
attached very negative feelings and labels. Although all
stutterersprofit by evaluating the role and value of emotion, it is
the latter groupthat profits most by it. Until they evaluate and
appreciate the purposeand positive value of internal bodily
changes, attempts to change theirbehavior are generally ineffective
and unstable. Because they have strong negative feelings to their
surges of emotion,some stutterers cannot deal with their stuttering
simply by isolating it,evaluating its consequences, and then
changing it. Substituting appropri-ate for inappropriate behavior
constitutes a new and untested experiencewhich generates
uncertainty and insecurity. The accompanying internalbodily changes
are felt as surges of nervousness, anxiety, and so forth, feel-ings
which they mistakenly assume to be their basic problem. For
them,the emotion that accompanies each attempt to change behavior
becomes asignal that something is wrong, even though to attempt the
change seemsright. As a result, their emotional feelings drive them
back into their oldingrained behaviors. Even though change is
desired, the emotional feelingsof stutterers have the effect of
offering them mainly two alternatives, eachof which is threatening
or undesirable: (a) their inconsistent inadequatebehavior with its
undesirable feelings, and (b) their changed behavior withits
undesirable feelings. Until the conflict is resolved, the stutterer
willvacillate between old and new behaviors; any gain gives rise to
relapse.Resolution of this dilemma is best initiated by viewing one
of the two alter-natives as being of greater long term positive
benefit. Stutterers shouldbe helped to realize that assessing ones
emotions in negative terms isgenerally due to lack of knowledge,
which predictably leads to confusion,inadequate behavior, failure,
and ultimately avoidance, all of which arecommon debilitating
behaviors of stutterers. When viewed in negative terms, emotion can
become excessive andserve to depress productive activity as well as
generate complicatingbehaviors. The dread and demoralization
associated with continual avoid-ance of fulfilling ones basic needs
or failure to manage disturbing condi-tions forms a vicious circle
with the surges of emotion that accompanysuch ineffectual
behaviors. Under such conditions the surges of emotioneventually
give rise to unwelcome feelings because they serve to
signalimpending conditions thought of as unmanageable. With regard
to stut-tering, rather than emotion causing stuttering as is often
claimed in theliterature, emotion serves to generate and maintain
complicating behaviorsbased on reactions to not understanding what
constitutes stuttering andhow to manage it. Unfortunately, this
describes the plight of too manystutterers. When they display
evidence of the foregoing, they should
28 Management of Stutteringbe helped to understand that certain
things serve to reduce or alleviateexcessive emotion. Holding valid
information about what confronts us and preparingourselves in terms
of how to deal with it are basic necessities for manag-ing any set
of circumstances. It amounts to having something going
forourselves, a factor shown in wartime studies to reduce the
intensity ofinternal bodily changes under conditions of stress.
Using biochemical indi-cators of stress, it was found that whereas
most soldiers displayed strongsigns of stress before and during
dangerous missions, some displayedsuch signs to a much lesser
degrees. Those with less indications of stresshad something going
for themselves. For example, one soldier had beena successful
gambler because he knew and played the odds or probabili-ties of
occurrence in games of chance. When confronted with involvement in
a series of dangerous missions, he obtained Holding valid
information about any information concerning the number of soldiers
set of disturbing conditions makes involved in such mis- them less
disturbing. sions and the number of casualties. His calcula- tions
showed that theodds were against his becoming a casualty. The point
of the matter is thatholding valid information about any set of
disturbing conditions makesthem less disturbing and serves to
lessen the intensity of the associatedinternal bodily changes that
give rise to what we call emotion. To view emotion as normal and
beneficial when labeled as nervousness,anxiety and so forth, comes
as something foreign to most people. Perhapsthis kind of assessment
is cultural, as could be the lifestyle of those peoplewho spend
their lifetimes attempting to avoid their labeled emotionsthrough
use of pills and mental mechanisms. Of interest is the fact that
theliterature concerned with anxiety indicates that for certain
people it servesto stimulate elevated performance, while for others
it tends to inhibit ordepress performance. Such differences are
also found among stutterers asthey engage themselves in therapy.
Some with little more than basic infor-mation develop related
skills and quickly and successfully alleviate theirstuttering,
doing so even though experiencing surges of emotion labeledin
fretful and anxious terms. With the same information, other
stutterersprocrastinate over developing related skills. They attain
skills and alleviatetheir stuttering only after evaluation and
appreciation of their emotionalreactions in a positive rather than
a negative manner. When so evaluated,the very thing that impedes
can be used to promote progress. Stutterers must understand that
emotion triggered by their concernand preoccupation regarding
dysfluencies is normal and in effect preparesthem to deal with
their inadequacy. Comprehending what must be doneto counteract
stuttering and doing it effectively, progressively uses up the
Management of Stuttering 29neuromuscular potential or energy
generated by internal bodily changesand perceived as emotion. As
one uses the available potential for doingsomething effective,
following events of a similar nature are perceived asless and less
threatening. In other words, as stutterers acquire valid
infor-mation, develop related skills, and apply them effectively,
they becomeincreasingly confident about handling conditions
previously evaluated andlabeled in negative terms and reacted to in
the form of complicated self-defeating behaviors. By means of the
preceding phase of therapy, stutterers attain the pointwhere,
having recognized stuttering for what it actually is, practice
andstrengthening of coarticulation is accepted as one of the more
logicalapproaches to alleviation of stuttering. Using the procedure
during therapy sessions serves to impress upon them that coartic-
Coarticulation minimized and often ulation minimized and eradicates
both their stuttering and often eradicates both their complicating
or secondary their stuttering and their behaviors. complicating or
second- ary behaviors. Most are amazed to find that doing something
rela-tively simple prevents the diverse behaviors that they
previously thoughtof as stuttering. Such a dramatic change in
behavior can and usually doesoccur early in the course of therapy.
However, strengthening the normalprocess of speech to the point
that it occurs spontaneously in everydayspeech generally is
directly related to (a) the degree to which one is will-ing to
practice the procedure, (b) the degree to which one is accustomedto
seeking and applying information in their attempt to resolve
difficultconditions other than stuttering, and (c) the degree to
which simulated aswell as real-life situations are incorporated
into the therapeutic procedures.Including a progression of
real-life speech situations during the course oftherapy provides
stutterers with important emotional experiences associat-ed with
decreasing instances of failure and increasing instances of
success,the sum total of which initiates their needed emotional
reeducation. Although practice in concentrated form takes place
during the courseof therapy, stutterers must eventually practice
deliberate coarticulationin everyday situations as well. Success
emerges from working throughand analyzing the inevitable failures
and partial failures which character-ize ones attempts to change
ingrained attitudes and behaviors. With thegrowth of success comes
a progressive lessening of the emotional arousalformerly associated
with inadequate handling of stuttering and its atten-dant
complicating behaviors. However, additional therapeutic
proceduresmust be implemented to help those stutterers whose
attempts to extendtheir success in therapy to real-life situations
are thwarted by excessiveemotional arousal, developed because of
past experiences involving fear
30 Management of Stutteringof failure, anticipated rejection by
their listeners, and frustrations gener-ated by postponement and
avoidance behaviors. They should be awarethat alleviation of
stuttering often occurs during appreciable emotionalarousal, and
that reduction of excessive emotional arousal comes as anend
product of managing their problem. Working through hierarchies
ofeasy-to-difficult situations is an important element in
procedures aimedat reducing their inhibitions and fears. Having a
therapist or fellowstutterers model in real-life conditions what is
to be attempted by reluctantstutterers often serves as an impetus
for them to attempt the same. Each stutterer must eventually take
it upon him or herself to experi-ence success during the throes of
emotional arousal by applying in real-life what they have developed
and strengthened through practice andexperience in therapy. The
eventual buildup of success in the presenceof emotional arousal is
the root system of emotional adjustment. Withoutsuch emotional
adjustment, stutterers remain continually susceptible toimpasse and
relapse. Phase Seven The objective of the seventh phase of therapy
is to deal with impasse(lack of progress) or relapse (loss of
progress) in the attempts of stutter-ers to alleviate their
stuttering. Stutterers to whom it applies must eventu-ally answer
the question, What keeps you from doing what you say youaccept as
the logical thing to be done if you want to alleviate your
stutter-ing? This question is asked when there is reason to believe
that a givenstutterer understands and has accepted as logical the
concepts developedin the preceding phases of therapy. At least
partial verification of theforegoing is indicated by the occurrence
of impasse or relapse after theindividual has initiated the
procedures and expressed satisfaction regard-ing having made
progress in alleviation of their stuttering. One factor that can
work against using a logical and common-sensicalapproach is the
lingering hope in some stutterers that their stuttering
willdisappear in some easy way if someone else does something about
it, thatpills or sances will abolish their nervousness and with it
their stutter-ing, or that someones instrument will do the trick.
In comparison, doingsomething that involves personal effort and
adjustment seems too much toexpect of themselves. Unfortunately,
unrealistic hope for easy ways out of stuttering isfostered by
claims of cures by those with commercial interests. Claimsof cures
are generally based on the short-lived periods of fluency
thatalmost any technique can produce. Meanwhile, periods of fluency
mayrelate to nothing more than the fact that the core behavior of
stutter-ing is known to be cyclic in both its occurrence and
severity. However,most stutterers are uninformed about these
matters and as such areeasy prey to those who proclaim easy ways
out of stuttering. Stutterers
Management of Stuttering 31should appreciate that the clich you
get nothing for nothing, alsoapplies to the alleviation of
stuttering. Periods of fluencywith or without therapyare viewed
mistakenlyby many stutterers as proof that they are normal
speakers, a view thatproduces and maintains hope that their
stuttering will disappear withoutpersonal involvement and effort.
In place of this, their welfare is bet-ter served by viewing the
inconsistency of their stuttering as proof onlythat they have the
program for adequate speech, which, if strengthenedthrough
understanding and practicing what must be done, will emergemore
consistently and alleviate what they inconsistently do wrong inthe
core behavior of stuttering. However, what some therapists as
wellas stutterers usually lack are valid and meaningful definitions
of normalspeech as well as stuttering, and thus what should be done
is not under-stood. Recall the longitudinal study of preschool
children mentionedearlier that showed those who exhibit
intraphonemic disruptionsthecore behavior of stutteringcan expect
to continue doing so unless theydo something specific to counteract
them. Once stuttering has been alleviated, its predictable
re-ocurrence shouldnot confuse or demoralize stutterers. Rather, it
should serve merely as asignal for them to renew their efforts to
counteract stuttering by practicingcoarticulation so as to
strengthen specific aspects of the normal processof speech violated
during stuttering. The point is that unrealistic hopeand
preoccupation about ridding ones self of stuttering without
personalinvolvement and effort interferes with the application of
information aboutstuttering and results in impasse or relapse. On
the other hand, applicationof information in the form of related
skills has its way of transforming hopeinto action and uses the
fuel of emotion to strengthen desired behaviorsthat counteract
stuttering. Another factor related to impasse or relapse involves
how stutterersrespond to reactions of their listeners. Listeners
can be expected to reactto stuttering. This is so because (a)
stuttering is uncommon and thereforeunexpected behavior, and (b)
listeners do not understand what is happen-ingthey have nothing in
their own behavior with which to compare it.Stutterers must realize
that they themselves react to uncommon experi-ences they do not
understand, including their own stuttering. How stutterers evaluate
listener reactions is an important issue toexamine, particularly
when impasse or relapse is in evidence. When askeddirectly how they
react to stuttering, listeners give vague answers, thereason being
that they do not know how to react to it and they therefore
reactdifferently as a function of time and conditions. As to be
expected, howthey react to stuttering causes internal bodily
changes in listeners, and,as a natural consequence, listeners
experience various emotions. Withoutinformation they are prone to
react in reflexive and sometimes primitivemanners.
32 Management of Stuttering Understanding and accepting the
fact that they are responsible for thereactions of their listeners
is an important insight to be gained by stutter-ers. Some
stutterers acquire and respond to this particular insight quicklyby
realizing that if they do not want adverse reactions, their task
becomesone of alleviating their stuttering. After reasserting their
conviction thatstrengthening patterns of coarticulation is the
logical thing to alleviatestuttering, they apply it diligently, and
impasse or relapse gives way toprogress. Other stutterers require
more time to evaluate listener reac-tions and to appreciate the
effect they can have on attempts to alleviatestuttering. In certain
cases, stutterers fail to realize that they are project-ing their
own feelings and thoughts about stuttering onto their
listeners.Pointing out that one really never knows what another is
thinking serves a purpose in such instances. To think that we know
what another is thinking Impasse or relapse gives way to amounts to
little more progress. than our own thoughts about what may be
involved. When stutter-ers hold valid information about stuttering
and what to do about it, iteventually influences their thinking
about and reactions to instances ofstuttering. Stutterers become
progressively less prone to react emotionallyabout it and as a
result progressively more prone to realize that emotionalreactions
of listeners are based on listeners lack of understanding
aboutstuttering. Ultimately, stutterers appreciate the futility of
allowing unin-formed reactions of others to control their
behaviors, particularly whenstutterers know they have within
themselves the capacity to do somethinglogical about it. As
insights of this nature are supplemented by reaffirma-tion of their
understanding and conviction that strengthening patterns
ofcoarticulation is the logical thing to do, stutterers concentrate
on doingwhat they must do and this becomes progressively less
affected by thereactions of others. Since stutterers, like everyone
else, march to different drummers,they can be expected to and
should be allowed to individually resolve theeffects of listener
reactions on their attempts to alleviate stuttering. Onestutterer
resolved the issue by realizing that listeners would continue
toreact as long as her stuttering persisted. On the other hand, she
couldexpect listeners to react to the deliberateness of her speech
as she volun-tarily strengthened patterns of coarticulation by
preparing for the secondsound of syllables or words and making the
first sound as a deliberatemovement into and through what she was
already prepared for. Thedifference, as she noted it, is that
listeners react better when speech iscontrolled and that as
patterns of coarticulation were strengthened andbecame more rapid,
she observed fewer reactions, ultimately no reactions,on the part
of listeners to how she spoke. Another stutterer stated that
he
Management of Stuttering 33had resolved the issue by thinking,
They dont know what Im doing, butI do. Still another said, I owe it
to myself to do it. Stuttering has balledup my life long enough, so
Im doing the first sensible thing Ive ever heardabout stutteringno
matter what anyone thinks. Other stutterers feel that working on
their speech in everyday situationsis impolite in the sense that
they are somehow using the people to whomthey speak. In effect,
they are applying the golden rule to rationalizetheir inability to
do what they know they should be doing. Their rational-ization
provides an easy way out, at least for the present time. They
pro-vide a personally acceptable explanation for maintaining the
status quo.To do anything different would arouse internal bodily
changes and theattendant emotions which are generally felt,
mislabeled, and reacted to innegative terms. Rationalizations of
this nature are resolved as stutterers become awareof the futile
conflict between their need for change and their prevailinglack of
progress. When common sense prevails, stutterers realize it
isbetter to shape their own behaviors on the basis of valid
information thanit is for their behavior to be shaped by others who
have no understandingof what is going on. The foregoing does not
imply that stutterers shouldbe insensitive to the reactions of
their listeners. The manner in whichone stutterer worded it
reflects how many stutterers resolve the issue oflistener
reactions: It isnt that you dont care what they thinkyou really do.
It takes awhile, but if you have something specific to do and for
good reasons, you sort of forget to care or you dont have time to
care. Concentrating on what to do and doing a good job of it sort
of blocks out whats going on around you. Its like you can think of
only one thing at a time. As your skill becomes stronger and more
natural, youre more capable of both doing it and being aware of
whats going on around you. When you get to this point, people pay
attention to what youre saying, not to how youre saying it. Its
sure different. Impasse or relapse can be and often is the result
of insufficient or faultypractice of coarticulation. If the extent
or mode of practice is suspected,the preceding phases of therapy
should be reviewed. In many cases, theconfusion of stutterers is
confounded because they cannot or do not sepa-rate basic stuttering
from complicating behaviors that develop becausebasic stuttering is
not alleviated. Understanding and being able to rec-ognize
instances of basic stuttering is an important first step. When
thisis achieved, one of the more common mistakes is that stutterers
wait forinstances of stuttering to occur before doing something
about them. Thisperpetrates preoccupation about stuttering and
generates nervousness,fear, and other undesirable feelings. In such
cases, misinformed stutter-ers generally attempt to minimize their
emotional load. It reminds oneof motorists whose automobile engines
spit and sputter when workingagainst a load, such as going up a
hill, who, rather than doing somethingabout their engine, use their
time and energy looking at contour maps and
34 Management of Stutteringchoosing only level road to travel
on to keep their cars from not respond-ing smoothly to changes of
load. In contrast to waiting for stuttering tooccur before doing
something about it, alleviation of stuttering is bestserved by
practice and strengthening the important factor of coarticula-tion,
which is violated in intraphonemic disruptions, the core behavior
ofstuttering. How this is practiced has been discussed in Phase
Five. Essentially, one should return to basic fundamentals.
Alleviating onesstuttering is ultimately a matter of self
discipline and control. This can beenhanced by developing a habit
of doing essential things (other than work onstuttering) that one
does not particularly like to do. The proposed therapeu-tic
procedure requires that stutterers budget their time in a fairly
rigid man-ner to do something specific about what they have
probably been avoiding for years. Concentrated practice during
sched- A matter of self discipline and uled periods inter- control.
spersed throughout each day is a reasonable and practical way to
begin.Three ten-minute periods amount to only 3% and three
30-minute peri-ods amount to less than 10% of a wakeful 16 hour
day. In terms of timeand effort, such routines are not high prices
to pay for the benefits to begained. If a practical routine of
practice is adhered to, the practiced skill iseventually
generalized in a progressive fashion and extended to surround-ing
periods of time. As the skill becomes strengthened and reflexive,
onefinds it being used progressively more in everyday speech,
without fatigueor interference with the give and take of
interpersonal communication.It should be obvious that stutterers
should appreciate that they will getsomething out of something only
when they put in, that insufficient practiceor lax habits of
practice results in less acquired skill and less generalizationof
skill to their everyday speech. How much to practice involves the
abilityto recognize the occurrence of basic stuttering in ones
speech. Whereas thepresence of stuttering can be taken in a
negative sense as indicating impasseor relapse, it is more
profitable to view it in a positive sense as a signal for theneed
for additional practice of what one must do if it is to be
eliminated. Faulty practice, however extensive and routine, can be
expected tobring inadequate results which could be construed as
impasse or relapse.As one begins the proposed therapeutic
procedure, identifying and pre-paring for the second sound of
syllables or words is generally a tediousprocess. Although not
absolutely necessary, a working knowledge ofphonetics symbolizes
the sounds of speech and helps to prevent errorsof judgment.
Breaking away from thinking of spoken words in terms ofthe letters
of one writing alphabet is of major importance. Approximately80% of
what we say involves identification and preparation for the
secondsound of syllables and words. For the rest of what we say,
the first andsecond sounds overlap to such an extent that one might
as well consider
Management of Stuttering 35them as being one sound. In such
instances, preparation for the thirdsound becomes necessary as the
place to move into and throughto becoarticulated with the combined
effect of the first and second sounds.Failure to recognize such
complexities of normal speech can lead to faultypractice and
failures that give rise to impasse or relapse. Impasse or relapse
can also result from the urge on the part of the cli-ent to
prematurely decrease the deliberateness of speech. Strengthening
agiven behavior to the point it displaces a competing behavior
takes time toaccomplish, particularly when the undesirable behavior
has prevailed overa long period of time. Generally, the urge to
decrease the deliberateness ofspeech can be traced back to how
stutterers interpret and respond to reac-tions or expected
reactions of listeners to their deliberate mode of speech.It helps
if stutterers recognize that the world of speakers is made up
ofthose whose rate of speaking is somewhere between those who talk
slowand others who talk fast and that few, if any, normal speakers
attain theirgoal of being consistently fluent. In other words,
normal speech is charac-terized by numerous pauses and nonfluencies
as well as various rates. Taking the time needed for structuring
what one wants to say andpacing ones speech for the purpose of
strengthening adequate move-ment patterns serves several purposes
at the same time. Thinking ofwhat is to be said and exercising
voluntary control over how it is saidpreoccupies ones thoughts to
the point that thinking about what someoneelse may be thinking
becomes a secondary matter of concern. Doing soweakens the effect
of listener reactions as well as the stutterers habits
ofcircumlocution, word substitution, use of starters, and other
distractingbehaviors that in effect make adequate speech
impossible. Rather thanpostponement being related to avoidance,
postponement can be used con-structively in planning how to
successively strengthen adequate patternsthat will eventually
generalize to everyday verbal activities. Still another issue to be
considered when evaluating impasse or relapseis linguistic
proficiency, the ability to formulate what one wishes toexpress. As
stuttering is alleviated, the individual generally becomes
moreverbal and takes part to a greater degree in the give and take
or everydayconversations and discussions. At such a time, certain
stutterers are proneto think that their stuttering increases, which
in certain cases may be true.However, stutterers should scrutinize
what is really happening. In manycases, nonfluency rather than
dysfluency increases. Becoming frustratedabout not being able to
formulate a particular point of view generates non-fluency in any
speaker, nonstutterer or stutterer. If, in fact, basic stutteringin
the form of intraphonemic disruptions is in evidence, it signals
the needfor additional practice or coarticulation. On the other
hand, if excessive nonfluency prevails, other proceduresmay serve
to reduce it. A direct and rather simple approach is to write aword
on each of a stack of cards, words such as shoes, politics, steel,
base-ball, geography, and so forth. The client should shuffle the
cards, lay them
36 Management of Stutteringupside down, pull the top card off
and start talking about the topic. He orshe should talk as long as
possible without groping for words or stallingto determine how to
structure the words into meaningful phrases and sen-tences. When
pausing for these or other reasons, the client should penalizehim-
or herself by taking ano