Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Mental Gymnastics

I remember the day, the moment, I figured out the answer to my stuttering. I was about 14 years old, laying in bed and reading a magazine when my subconscious finally calculated all the various permutations, assessed the factors and ramifications and spit out the answer to my conscious. Sort of like when you try to remember the name of some obscure actor or film, give up and all the sudden it bubbles up out of nowhere when you are mowing the grass the following week.

All of the questions like "Why don't you stutter when you sing?" and "Why do I stutter more when I'm on the phone than when I am face to face with someone?" and "Why does that deep breath, talk slow business work in the calm of the therapist's office but not in real life?" finally took shape like seeing the hidden picture in an optical illusion.

Think about it. When do you stutter the worst? When you are uncomfortable, stressed, want to impress someone, essentially when you are most afraid that you are going to stutter. When do you stutter the least? When you are comfortable, relaxed, least afraid of stuttering. It would appear that stuttering is a self-propagating phenomenon. The more you don't want to stutter the more you do, the less you worry about it the less you stutter. Hmmm...

That's all good and fine you might say, but how do you not worry about stuttering when you stutter? The answer is in the walls. As you think about what you are going to say your brain puts the walls in place. For example take the following sentence:

"The boy walks the dog across the plaza."

O.K., imagine addressing your favorite supermodel, U.S. Congress, or a jury of your peers and saying this sentence. Breathe deeply, think very hard and say this sentence very slowly.

If you are like me your mind would immediately fix on the "b," "d," and "p" and place the walls there. As you approach the "b" your heart races, your face turns red and you begin the battle against the wall. No way to avoid it as you can't say "young man," "adolescent," "youth," or any of the other words that could describe "boy" without facing that accursed abrupt consonant "b."

The Ramp

Therein lies the answer. The very act of stuttering propagates itself. Like a self-fulfilling prophecy. How do you conquer (or at least cage) it? You use its strengths, the very factors that cause you to stutter, to vault over the walls.

Let's take our example from before.

"The boy walks the dog across the plaza."

Alright. Let's say that there was no "b," "d," or "p." Lets say that instead there was a soft consonant in its place. For me "m's" and "n's" worked best.

What if you said this:

"The mmboy walks the nndog across the mmplaza."

As odd as this may appear, think about it. Your stuttering beast within has placed very well established walls at the sharp consonants "b," "d," and "p." All the sudden, completely unexpected, there is no "b," "d," and "p." Only soft "n's" or "m's." Trust me, your stuttering beast is not very bright and when it has got itself set to stutter on a certain letter at beginning of a word and all the sudden that letter is not there it gets confused.

You stutter because you have the pause before the word, the opportunity, to stutter. If you are already talking by the time the wall is supposed to go up you take away that opportunity.

Have you ever watched professional football players on the line of scrimmage. Look sometime and you will notice that before the ball is snapped they have to be very still (or they get penalized) but if you look close you will notice that they are shaking their hand. What experts have found is that it is easier to leap into action if you are already moving, even if it is just a small shake of the hand, than if you are completely still.

The same is true with stuttering. If you are already speaking, even if it is only a light hum, when it is time to leap into action in the saying of a difficult word it is easier.

Fortunately many non-stutterers say "mmm" as they gather their thoughts. You can also make the ramps, the "pre-consonants" very quiet. So It is more like:

"The mmboy walks the nndog across the mmplaza."

Also, keep in mind the human brain's tendency towards closure. The listener will hear mmplaza but the listener's brain will toss out mplaza as not being a word and backfill in the word plaza as being correct and in context.

Now, instead of just an inevitable obstacle in your path, you have put a subtle though efficient ramp over the Wall. You still have to climb over the wall, but now you have a small, light-weight portable tool to lay against the wall that allows you to climb over while barely breaking your stride.

Momentum

Another important part of the caging process is momentum. Contrary to popular therapeutic techniques talk fast and don't give a second thought about what you are going to say next. That is when you stutter the least anyway. When you are comfortable, at ease and with friends you don't think about what you are going to say. Don't give your brain the chance to punctuate your sentences with walls.

I know that this is easy enough to recommend but very difficult to execute. However, it will greatly help your using the Ramp because even today, if I have to read something to a group, if I slow down and think about the words the walls spring up like weeds. Whereas if I speak the words as fast as I read them I'm gone before my brain has the chance to lay the first brick.