Two hundred years ago, attempts were made to cure stammering by cauterization of the tongue. This crude and cruel practice ceased, thank goodness, by the beginning of the 19th century. Since that time, a great deal more has become known about factors contributing to the development of stammering.
Stammering is not a disease rather a disorder of speech rhythm. There is no physical disability with stammering. One cannot blame the speech organs in a physical sense. There is nothing wrong with them physically; it is more a matter that in speech they are not being used correctly. This point is amply demonstrated when it is considered that stammerers invariably are able to sing without any sign of faltering or hesitation.
Most stammers begin in childhood. If they are not cleared up they can grow worse. In the end the stammer may become so ingrained that the stammerer accepts it as part and parcel of himself. What a negative situation?
Stuttering is often accompanied by a variety of associated movements, which are not conspicuous until a child has become concerned about his problem and tries to control it. He, sooner or later, discovers certain devices which seem to help him momentarily; he frowns, presses his eyelids together, swallows, throws his head back, clenches his fists, jerks his arms or stamps his feet.
Stuttering is classified into two levels primary and secondary stuttering:
1. Primary stuttering consists of repetitions, hesitations and prolongation in speech which occur without apparent awareness and anxiety, without evidence of struggle on the part of the speaker.
2. In secondary stuttering the speaker becomes aware of his non-fluencies and attempts to modify or avoid them. The severity of stuttering varies considerably for the individual from time to time and according to the situations.
Stammering arises from tension. It is a struggle for the stammerer to force out the words. He/She is continuously straining and the tension builds up. In fact the more he tries to force words out, the greater the tension and the harder it is for the words to come forth.
Relaxation is the opposite of tension. By practicing relaxation, it follows that tension must recede if the relaxing is properly carried out. Learn to relax fully. Let go every part of the body in turn so that the body in the end feels a complete dead weight. A completely relaxed person just cannot stammer.
The stammerer tends to feel anxious about his/her stammer. This anxiety makes the stammer worse. And so the vicious circle goes on. There is embarrassment, too, with a stammer. This is accompanied by a feeling of inferiority and shyness. The stammerer tries to hide his impediment for fear of appearing foolish, bust this often increases the anxiety or nervousness with a consequent worsening of the stammer.
Yet a further source of help is a qualified speech Therapist. The first step to speech therapy service is for you to see your own doctor and he will make the necessary arrangements for your appointment with the therapist.
Positive results are achieved in very many cases. Methods of dealing with stammering have greatly improved in recent years. Different sophisticated instruments are being used to help overcome stammering like Speech Trainer, Masker, Delayed Auditory Feedback etc. By placing yourself in the care of a speech specialist, you will doubtless stand an improved chance of a complete cure.
The road is often long and arduous, needing much sweat and toil, and a deal of patience and effort. But the end-product of Improved Speech is worth it a thousand times.
Is stammering / stuttering curable completely? Is there any Medicine that can be of help?
Yes, with proper therapy and co-operation from both the person who stammers and his family, it is very much curable. Medicines, however, have no direct effect on the speech problem, since there is nothing physically wrong with the speech mechanism.
The only effective answer to communicate effortlessly is through what we call as speech therapy. And I can bet my decades of experience on it that even the severest of ‘stammerer’ can learn to speak effortlessly.
How Much time does it take for a complete cure?
Basically it depends on degree & duration of stuttering. To attain apparent fluency it does not take much time, maybe 2 months or so if regular therapy is undertaken. But to maintain the fluent stage, the duration may vary from person to person depending upon the psychological pressure and his ability to take help from the environment. From our experience we can safely say that if one is stammering for 8 years, it will require him 2 years to be in touch with the therapy to get rid of it permanently.