Stuttering Tips/Things That Make Me Stutter

I hope these lists help someone like me who stutters but doesn't know anyone else who stutters feel a little less alone. I write this blog for the same reason I've written a script for the first video of my stuttering/anxiety youtube channel that I'm still too scared to film. I want to be a presence in the world with this disability because it is so isolating and so rarely seen.

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When I talk on the phone, I use a pen (Bic Atlantic specifically, because the click is practically noiseless) and with each syllable I say, I click the pen once. This helps keep my speech slow enough that I don't get tangled up in my own words, but it's not too noticeable. Also, if I can I write a script, writing in anything I expect the other person to say and my reply to it. It may seem laborious, but it works.

In person, you can't really click a pen, but if I can I'll tap my fingers on my lap or under my chair, or tap my feet. I'm reading this very helpful (if extremely dated) book and it's been AMAZING teaching me ways to speak to avoid stuttering. A tip that has helped me immensely is to touch your lips/tongue together as lightly as possible. It keeps me from getting tense and clamping my mouth shut. I can't recommend it highly enough, it's wonderful. 

Planning out what I'm going to say ahead of time- that is, predicting what questions people will ask and planning your response- helps as well. This is good especially for planned events like holidays or parties. People are going to ask you what you're up to, how's the job hunt going, etc. Planning and rehearsal are key for me.

Breathing deeply in and out, for instance, while waiting in line at a checkout, works to keep me from getting wound up while waiting for my turn to speak. If I don't do this, by the time it's my turn at the checkout I'll be so tense I won't be able to open my mouth.

After meditating, or mantra meditating, I am a lot less likely to stutter. I think it has to do with being extremely relaxed. this one turns me into jello. Use headphones with these, they're intense!

I like to read aloud to practice my speech, talking as slowly as I can without sounding like I have an intellectual disability. (The book I mentioned above recommends talking extremely slowly, but I figure talking to everyone like that all the time is way worse than stuttering, so I only read like this to practice relaxed talking)

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One of the weirdest things that sends me into a throat-closed red alert stuttering emergency is when people ask me to repeat myself. Even if I said it the first time perfectly fluently, if I'm asked to repeat myself, I just shut down.

If I'm on the phone and someone deviates from my script. PANIC. Also just calling someone I don't know closely can shut my mouth down. A lot of times I'll get stuck on 'Hello' and people will hang up- thus perpetuating the whole 'fear of talking on the phone' thing.

When I'm surprised, for instance someone coming up to me in a shop and asking if I need anything.

I stutter most when I'm angry, nervous, or about to win an argument (because of how important it is that I not stutter), and least when I'm happy or sad. Also when I know I look really good. :)

My trouble letters are all hard consonants. K, B, G, and P are the bane of my existence.

I stutter a lot more around men than I do women, mostly because the majority of the people who have scarred me mentally were men.

When I talk to people I live near, I always stutter a ton, probably because I know I'll see them a lot and it'll be awkward. Similarly, people I only see once or twice a year are triggers for me because I know if I stutter a lot it'll be their last impression of me for a year or more. So, of course, I stutter a lot.