Stuttering discussed by panel
Corey Hartwell remembers going into his old speech therapy sessions feeling like he was going into a dark room, being told what was wrong with him and a simple list of ways how to fix it.
“They didn’t say that obviously, but it felt like that. It was all fluency training and easy onset things and you’d go there and learn how to say words correctly and then you’d just leave,” the Gladwin senior said.
He stopped attending his speech therapy sessions in high school, feeling like it was no longer helping him. He found that what he needed to work on the most wasn’t going to be fixed by therapy, but by learning how to control it himself and deal with the mental struggle that having a stutter entrails.
“I put myself in a better place when it came to my stuttering and realized why I was so negative about it,” Hartwell said. “Once I did that, it became a lot easier for me and it wasn’t such a big deal.”
Students and communications disorder professor Sue Wood discussed speech impediments at a stuttering awareness panel discussion, Tuesday in Pearce 128.
Vanessa Grover, a graduate student from Holly, has been stuttering since she was three years old. She began therapy with a fluency focus and making sure she was using techniques to be smooth with her speech.
“That in turn interrupted some parts of my life and made me feel really down about it, so when I started at Central, I was connected with Dr. Sue and worked on a lot of emotional based things,” Grover said.
It’s the emotional-based things that are often the biggest struggle for those with a stutter. The stutter itself is just the tip of what is referred to as the “iceberg” of stuttering.
Communications disorder professor Sue Woods explains that while you may see the tip of the iceberg, it’s the things under the surface, often feelings of fear, shame, guilt, anxiety, and isolation, that need to be addressed the most.
Grover recalls the denial she felt during her initial meetings with Woods. She went in determined to stay “tough” and managed to keep the resistance up until one day, when Woods brought out a big green chair.
“She said ‘this is your stuttering. This is your big, green, ugly monster, or better yet, your old speech professor.’ But so I had to stare and create this image in my head. I remember trying to be so tough and just thinking ‘I don’t like you’ and Dr. Sue told me I had to get real here,” Grover said. “It took a while again and I finally just released everything and it was probably the best feeling, releasing all those negative emotions.”
Not everyone who attends therapy get the same emotional recovery as Grover did. Many of those with a stutter end up quitting therapy from either a bad experience or because they don’t feel like it’s beneficial. High schooler Braden Weber stopped attending once he felt like he was relying too much on his therapist.
“I would say to keep a journal [if you don’t attend therapy]. Since I cut myself off of therapy, I think that the most noticeable difference is that I don’t get to talk about it as much and that I think has a negative impact,” he said. “Keeping a journal is just talking to yourself I guess, but it’s still talking to someone. I noticed that when I kept one, I noticed things I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.”
Richelle Vallier, a Portland senior, advises friends of those with a stutter to not be afraid to ask questions.
“Don’t be afraid to ask us anything...I get so excited when they’re worried that I’ll get upset over something,” she said. “It’s always comforting when people want to know more about it.”
