People who stutter really have a harder time socializing than the rest of us. Some are so severe that they end up missing out on a lot of life experiences. A stutterer often ends up feeling sorry for himself, constantly asking how can I stop stuttering every time they converse with other people. While it has no instant cure still there are ways to correct or to make it less pronounced.
What are its causes?
Before going in depth as to the query on how do you stop stuttering, let us first examine its precipitating factors. In the past it was thought that stuttering was caused by anxiety and emotional difficulties. Recent studies however have shown that these were merely the results of growing up with a stuttering problem and are more of exacerbating factors rather than actual causes.
Clinicians have identified three precipitating factors of this disfluency, which in turn have become the disorders main classifications. First of which is developmental, which is the most common. Stuttering often occurs in childhood with most eventually outgrowing it during the course of learning how to speak. There are those whose disfluency persists into adulthood however especially those who have not received prompt corrective therapies. Just last year, in 2010, scientists have isolated 3 genes that are known to cause stuttering which only proves that disfluency can be passed on vertically from parent to offspring. Stuttering is also seen among people who have injury to the brain and the severity of disfluency is often in direct relation to the degree of trauma to the nerve transmission pathways. The last type is psychogenic stuttering common to people with disturbed thought processes.
The question of how do you stop stuttering is often easier answered when the cause of the disfluency is determined. Accordingly, those with neurogenic and psychogenic stuttering will improve as the disease processes which cause the disfluency resolves. Developmental disfluency on the other hand requires long drawn out therapies, which involve relearning speech and anxiety reduction as ways to stop stuttering. Stutterers look to technology for some reprieve from their condition. One of the newer ways to stop stuttering is the altered auditory feedback device which replays a slightly altered version of the wearers voice. Still, studies done on its efficacy are inconclusive.
On your own you can use the following ways to stop stuttering. First, breathe naturally and easily so that you dont run out of air when conversing. Second, read a story or poem aloud as a speech warm up exercise. Lastly, avoid being self-defeatist and set realistic goals. Remember, therapy is not an overnight process.
