The BSA Homepage* British Stammering Association*
 The UK Website for Stammering   Home | About The BSA    Cookies info  

-Information for
    Adults
    Teenagers
    School Children
    Under 5's
    SLTs
    Teachers
    Health visitors
    Employers, services
    Partners, friends
    Media

-BSA Services
    Helpline
    Library
    Shop
    Speaking Out
    Where / What ?
    Research

-Features
    Events
    News & notices
    Self-help
    Scotland
    Web links

-Site information
    What's new
    Contents
    Search the Site
    Legal

-The BSA
    About the BSA
    Join the BSA
    Contact us
   
-Supporting us
* How to support BSA

Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter

* *
Speaking Out

What works
by Salman Alam

I have been trying different things to stop stammering since I was four years old. I am now 28. Attending regular groups at the Willy Russell centre in Liverpool has brought me to the stage where I can decide how I am going to stammer and when I am going to stammer. It has been a long journey. I felt that there was a continuous struggle of trying to be fluent when I used to talk and I always asked myself how I could stop doing that. The most important thing is when you start believing in things that work, for example, if I remember not to hide my stammer by trying to be fluent then everything starts working.

At the moment I am working as a volunteer at the Willy Russell centre with children and adults. I hope I will be able to help other people who need some kind of encouragement from someone and that I might be the right person to do so. If I can do it, every one of us can do it.

Things which are useful
-eye contact
-not allowing the fear inside to take control of you
-accepting your stammer, with a kind of feeling that you are showing your stammer to the listener, which can result in much less stammering
-pausing is very, very useful and the listener can see the good effects of pausing
-reminding yourself again and again of the right things to do. When you do them, you start believing in yourself which takes the fear of stammering from you.

From the Winter 2007 edition of Speaking Out, page 17

Back to the top


 © 2000-2008 The British Stammering Association.
LEGAL NOTICES: disclaimer, privacy/cookies, and copyright   
Registered Charity Numbers 1089967/SC038866