The review day yesterday went really well. It was a hard slog, about six or seven hours of talking, talking, talking, talking. I was absolutely exhausted by the end.
But it was very helpful. They took me right back to basics, talking at 60 syllables per minute (for comparison, you probably talk at at least 200), which is very difficult to maintain. Then they slowly sped me up, until I was very fluently speaking at about 160, which is about as fast as I can go without derailing.
Also worked on getting rid of some bad habits I'd picked up, like nodding my head slightly with each word, and not linking my words together properly, which were both adding up to me talking. in a. jerky. kind of. rhythmic. way. that. doesn't. sound. natural.
My stutters come at the start of words, phrases and sentences, so for me it's best to glidemywordstogether(breathe), inaslowandgentleway (breathe), treatingseveralwordsasone (breathe), whichlimitstheopportunity (breathe), forastutter.
I was also asked to speak in front of the speech therapy students, and the new group of people going through therapy, to talk about my experience since doing the 2009 intensive, and the pitfalls and triumphs I faced in the wake of that. It felt good.
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
Huldra Forsvant (Theodor Kittelsen)
4 comments:
Awesome, Ben! Hope you feel really encouraged by how far you come and how worthwhile all your effort has been.
You may or may not be interested to know that 160 words per minute is the rate broadcast journalists are meant to pitch for (and most words are probably short one syllablish - because they're all about being brief).
Good to hear about your progress - especially when coupled with the post on your new Bible Study group. What's with this number of posts today anyway? I'll have to up the ante.
Thanks a lot guys.
Nath, that's interesting to hear 160 is the journo figure. I think a lot of people, not just stutterers would benefit from slowing down a bit. What's the great rush?
Woah this is a bit trippy. I was once one of the student Speech Pathologists who ran that day. It was pretty intense and intimidating for us, newbies that we were. Much respect to you for your hard work. Stuttering's a tough gig, and fixing it takes commitment. Keep up the good work!
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