Does anyone have any experience of stammering??

[agalch]

Just wondering if anyone has experienced this? In themselves dp or children? And have you managed to overcome the stammer.

My ds1's gf (who is 15) is a lovely girl but really struggles with her stammer.Sometimes she is fairly fluent and stammes a little but when it's bad eg when she is upset or stressed it is bloody awful.

It is exhausting to watch her sometimes.She can be so bad that she has facial tics alongside the stammering and she is not recieving much/any help.

She had a speech therapy appt once every 2/3 months.My son adores her but he is starting to worry about her leaving school and getting a job etc.Think she is worried too.

We are in Scotland so does anyone have any advice or wise words so i can maybe help her or at least point her in the right direction.

many thanks xx

Hi there, check out the Michael Palin centre website here
Not sure about scotland, hang on, will check info on speech therapy website (am a SALT btw but don't work with stammering)

some good advice for friends/partners here

Thanks for that

Will check it out when i have fed the dd's.

Would be nice to make things easier for her.

Hi there,

I am 32 and I have stammered since I was about 9 or 10. I haven't got a severe stammer, but it has effected my life a great deal. Sometimes I control it with no problem, and I almost forget about it. A lot of the time, it's there though - it flares up when I'm stressed, worried, under pressure etc and my one big problem is speaking on the telephone - that's my mental block. School and teenage years were the worst really, because of just being a teenager, I suppose - it's a very self concious time.

I went to university, I have a husband and three children, my life is good. However, the area that it has effected is work. I've only ever had "easy" jobs. I deliberately avoided having a career I suppose. It's easier for me to be a housewife and a stay at home mum.

The main difference now, from when I was 15, is just that with age comes confidence. Yes, I have a stammer, but it's not the end of the world, and I have acheived what I wanted to in life. When I was 15 I was very worried about my future, but now it's okay. When I was 15, I was mortified if I stammered in public. Now, I just find it a nuisance, say to the person, "I'm sorry, I have a stammer" and that difuses the situation, and it's fine. I'm not embarrassed about it any more.

I'm not sure if I have any advice for your daughter - just that she should concentrate on the things she CAN do, rather than worry about the things she can't do. And that as she get's older, even if the stammer doesn't improve, her attitude towards it probably will. She will become more at peace with it.

By the way, if you think it's exhausting watching her stammer, it's 10 times more exhausting for the stammerer.

sorry, it's not your daughter - I mean your son's girlfriend.

I stammered quite badly from about 8. I had weekly speech therapy at 16 which really helped and was taught techniques e.g. breathing, slowing down. I only stammer now when nervous e.g. interviews. I am now a teacher and am able to speak in front of large groups so it can be overcome!

Thanks Celery

If she has the stammer forever i will love her to bits just the way i do now.The stammer only bothers me because it bothers her iyswim? She is lucky in that she has a good bunch of supportive friends and my ds is very protective of her and they all look after her when she needs it.

I can see waht you mean about the job thing too.She does worry about tha t i think as does my son.

It is frustrating to watch her go through it when it's really bad.They are sitting exams atm so you can imagine the stammer is bad just now.She is however very confident despite the stammer and reads to my dd1 who is 2.8 and dd doesn't care that the story takes a bit longer than if anyone else does it.

Thanks for that calery

Wow Cornsilk!! I will need to show her this thread.She has said she would like to work with children so hey maybe she will be able to.

That's interesting celery. DH has a slight stammer and taking the 'easy' job sounds familiar. For years he stayed in the same job where he and the owner were the only staff. I tried to encourage him to move jobs and work for big companies to no avail - maybe that was one of the stumbling blocks?

However alls well that ends well as dh is now the owner and making more than he would ever get at one of the big companies

Message withdrawn

Speech therapy can work, but it's HARD work, much harder than people realise. Really, it's exhausting having a stammer - the amount of effort put into speaking, or doing the breathing exercises to stop the stammer - it's a long term continuous commitment. Most people don't even realise I have a stammer, because I'm putting so much effort into controlling it. I'm very good at hiding it - changing words at the last minute, saying "um" a lot, that sort of thing. It's great that she seems so confident and has a lot of support, she sounds much more "together" than I was at 15. My husband makes all of the important phone calls - about bills etc - he is my rock.

Saffy, I'm glad your dh's job situation worked itself out