Stuttering problems usually are a norm of early childhood. Most children (almost 80 percent) usually get rid of this problem as they grow, but there are a few who carry the problem into adulthood. Adult stuttering can be extremely depressing and sufferers often tend to disassociate themselves from the society due to low self-esteem. Unfortunately, stutters cannot be cured but the symptoms can be dealt with through effective management.
Tips to Treat Adult Stuttering: Let us look at a few techniques that can minimise stuttering.
- Better to think the words before speaking. People who suffer from stutters possess a smarter mind than most normal people. This enables them to think fast and gives time to frame the sentence before speaking.
- Try forming a rhythm while speaking. Studies have proved that people tend to stutter less while singing. You can bring in a kind of rhythm into the speech to avoid stutters.
- Take deep breaths before talking. This would lower the anxiety and cause problems while speaking.
- Try not to look into people’s eyes directly while speaking. Instead try focussing on a certain target point.
- Chewing gum or mint has proven to be effective in a few people while talking.
- Try speaking either loudly or in a soft voice. Speaking loudly often eliminates any problems related to stuttering and speaking in a soft voice diminishes it.
Therapies: Let us look at a few speech therapy techniques.
- Fluency Shaping: Fluency shaping mechanism, a part of this therapy aims at improving the phonation, articulation and breathing skills of the person. When these three components are controlled the fluency of the speech is improved. It would take a little while in order to adapt to these techniques, but the result are affective.
- Electronic Fluency: This therapy makes use of electronic devices that modify the stutter of the speaker. The speaker is also given a hearing aid through which he/she receives a clear syllable (though the speech is stuttered). These devices have shown to rectify the problems by almost 40 to 80 percent.
Stuttering adults can also prescribe to anti-stutter medications, but these have not been proven to be that effective.
