Speakwell Educational Video: Stammering

The tape consists almost solely of the presenter, Jackie, describing how he cured his stammer and how the viewer can follow his example. Since it is known that stammering is a complex disorder and can vary widely both in the speech and psychological symptoms, the assumption that one method can cure all stammerers is necessarily simplistic. In my opinion this tape is unsuitable for children and teenagers, and for those who have a mild or 'interiorised' stammer. It can only be of help to those who are prepared to practise daily and speak in a highly artificial manner for several week if not months.

Jackie, uses a confrontational and authoritarian style probably in order to 'shock' the listener into working of his technique, e.g. in a stressful situation, "you become a mumbling, stumbling, bumbling idiot. My technique may sound strange at first, but is 'strange' as bad as the other adjectives?".

The aim is to cure stammering; the path is continuous practice; the procedure is to talk slowly word by word, stretch out each word, and form each word carefully so that every sound is pronounced in an exaggerated manner.

The presenter makes a number of emotive remarks not based on research evidence, e.g. "It takes a stammerer to cure another stammerer"; "this is probably your last chance of a cure"; "this is a psychological cure for a psychological illness", and so forth.

The presenter offers his own experiences and thus ignores several issues. The problems to me would seem to be that the majority of people who stammer:-
(a) would not be prepared to talk in such and artificial manner
(b) could not go to work for 2-3 weeks and speak in this way so might have to take time off work to follow the tape
(c) would not enjoy being dictated to by the presenter, nor with to be called 'idiots'.
Also, not everyone wants total fluency; and there is some concern about the word-for-word element in this technique in that little or no attempt is made to encourage smooth speech, so the technique sounds jerky. Those people who do not complete the requisite practice period could end up rather more disjointed than before.

Undoubtedly this tape will help some people, but only those who are desperate for fluency, willing to practise every day, and prepared to speak for several weeks in an artificial way. For others, the tape could prove harmful because of Jackie's strong suggestion that, if he could do it, so can you; feelings of anxiety and guilt could be created.

Reviewed by Renée Byrne in the Spring 1993 issue of 'Speaking Out'.

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