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It is possible to get rid of stuttering in 2-3-4 months, as well as from logophobia. But you need to assess your capabilities realistically and patiently follow all the necessary prescriptions. Each case is individual, therefore, the rehabilitation program throughout the entire training course is built on the basis of many parameters of a particular person. Age, gender, degree of logophobia, crutches used, frequency and nature of speech stupor, amount of understatement, etc. Everything needs to be considered when taking the course. Moreover, with each new lesson, the picture (stuttering map) changes (mainly for the better), but it always changes in different ways. Something turns out better, something worse. And at each next lesson we plan strategies build on the results and dynamics between lessons!
How much time will you need to spend on classes and homework?
With a mild degree of stuttering, in most cases, it is enough to conduct classes 2 times a week for 1 hour. Also, you’ll need to do your homework for 30 minutes a day. Sometimes our online meetings are enough for the obvious progress, and the rest of the time the student simply and with pleasure uses the solutions he has learned during lessons, when communicating with various people directly. This is the minimum you need to be prepared for.
If the degree of stuttering is strong and frequent and at the same time there is a high level of logophobia, then you’ll need to be ready to have lessons at least the first 2 weeks 2-3 times a week, for 2 hours. And do homework, from 30 minutes to 2 hours. As a rule, the greatest intensity occurs in the first 1-2-3 weeks (depending on the situation), then the amount of home practice is gradually reduced to a minimum. At the same time, the degree of stuttering decreases, self-confidence increases and the skill of free speech is becoming more and more a habit.
What can you expect while passing through the course?
With a strong degree of stuttering, you should initially expect to improve speech by about 2 times in 2 months, in other words to reduce stuttering by 2 times. Reduce the number of stupors and their scale (the level of grimaces and tensions). This is a real challenge and it minimizes the feeling of rush and frustration that something is not working out. This is the case for everyone, and it would be strange if it were different. You need to react more calmly to the existing mistakes.
For the first time, the goal is to reduce the frequency and amount of stupors and clamps, while increasing the total amount of daily speech. Personally,during the first month I increased the amount of my daily speech from 2 to 10 times, approximately, it depended on the day. And I tried to make more “normal” speech (words / phrases), to gain more of at least locally made words and phrases, somewhere there was a norm, without clamping (despite the existing logophobia and thoughts that it might not work out). When you’ve started the course the initial dynamics is assessed after about the first week, realizing that this is just a beginning, and a large number of mistakes still may happen. At the same time somewhere you already feel the work of new ideas, bypassing the stupor. And, of course, you try to correct almost every mistake (stupor / tension) so that your body:
A) remember the final, normal version of information reproduction
B) realize for future that this problem already has solutions, which means that those situations where you’ll face difficulties are no longer so scary, since most likely they can be instantly solved (corrected, or, even better, prevented by reacting correctly after a premonition of difficulty). Logophobia also becomes less because of that too.
Therefore, it is better to be ready for 3 months. Consider the fact that in 2 months the amount of errors will decrease by 2 times, as well as speech will become much freer and further progress will be faster. In one more month it will be possible to reduce the problem by 80-90 percent. It is better to think like that, and retain the right (!) to make some mistakes, morally not to stray from the chosen path and move on. Of course, you will try not to make speech stupors, and work on possible mistakes, not allowing yourself, as before, to ignore every stupor and just continue to talk further. After all, it was due to complete impotence. Now we follow the plan, with working tricks and solutions, paying attention to all problem areas.
The question at the first lesson "How can I not stutter in any situation?"
This is the topic of the general course. And I consistently, over several sessions and a large amount of your practice, explain how to do it. It’s like coming to a driving school and asking “How can I get from one city to another?” Of course, it cannot be answered in one sentence. Firstly, you will need to study the rules of the road, general provisions, then a month later you will be allowed to drive, and then on the training ground. Only after enough practice you can be released to go from one city to another. After that it’ll be possible to answer this question “how to get from one city to another” by your own example. “Just up and go.” But for this it will take you several weeks of practice and learning lots of information. There is something similar here.
So this mind restructuring should take place in your head gradually. No one will give you the only answer on how not to stutter. What’s the point in continuing if I could give you 1 piece of advice? We have explained why we are working with a table. So that you focus less on consonants and don’t try to squeeze out the word quickly. Let it be at least 10% less. Then we analyze other tools that also allow us to slightly improve speech (!) through specific tasks. But only after extensive practice on the instrument has already been passed. There is not a single tool that will immediately close all your problem areas.
You stuttered every day for 25 years, for example. And you should understand that there is no such single solution to know right away in the first days how to never stutter again in the future. Otherwise, what is the point of arranging a long course? It is not that simple. It is better to have realistic goals and slowly but surely achieve them, rather than hope for a miracle and be disappointed if you do not get quick and stable results. For example, a person can set the goal of stuttering 10% less than before during the first week. Of course, he still stutters, but he can already do it less by working correctly. Then next week another 10% and so on. Someone is able to improve their speech by more than 10% or 20% in one week, which is already great, considering that before he had stuttered for 1000 weeks in his life and could not do anything about it at all. In the centers where they treat stuttering, they are usually working during six months, a year or even more, setting the task of achieving a 10% improvement in speech at least in a month. And so, step by step, slowly but surely, improving speech in general. Taking into account the investment of time and labor of the student himself.
At first, many students have lots of questions that can only be answered gradually as they progress through the course. The reason is that it takes time to practice each tool. Typically, after 1-2 weeks, the student begins to understand the curriculum. I warn about this in advance that you’re going to keep going. So, of course, the goal of the rehabilitation Breakthrough course is to obtain a stable normalization of speech in the shortest possible time and to get rid of both stuttering and logoneurosis (fear of speech) as much as possible.