Help Me To Speak
This film follows the extraordinary story of stuttering children struggling to break out of their isolation and learn to speak. Stuttering, also known as stammering in the United Kingdom, is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases; and involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the stutterer is unable to produce sounds.
The term stuttering is most commonly associated with involuntary sound repetition, but it also encompasses the abnormal hesitation or pausing before speech, referred to by stutterers as blocks, and the prolongation of certain sounds, usually vowels.
Much of what constitutes "stuttering" cannot be observed by the listener; this includes such things as sound and word fears, situational fears, anxiety, tension, self-pity, stress, shame, and a feeling of "loss of control" during speech. The emotional state of the individual who stutters in response to the stuttering often constitutes the most difficult aspect of the disorder. No single, exclusive cause of stuttering is known.
Neither child in this film stutters. They both speak very fluently when they do talk; this is a film about Selective Mutism which is the complete inability to verbalize in certain circumstances.
My question is this: why do these anxious kids need to be in regular school? Find another way for them to learn. My child is ASD and extremely anxious and he's now in a school where he's one on one with an educator. They need to build relationships in a sensory limited environment to learn!
My brother stutters, all his life, he is 70 now. My grand daughter had selective mutism for years. She is now in her early 20s, and speaks to everyone in a very soft voice but I haven't seen her initiate conversations. she works now part time, in the backroom of a floral shop.
My Dad stuttered, but when I was a child I didn't notice it , However, after he died I can understand how it was hard to him to speak. He didn't talk to us a lot. He hiding behind the newspaper most of the time pretending that he was reading!
I wish I could help him or understand his situation,
When I was in primary school I couldn't say words that started with a p, t or k. Unfortunately, my surname starts with the k- sound. I was nervous hours before roll call, could not say my name, decided to say nothing at all and was reprimanded. My father suggested that I sang my sentences. I did and I could say the sounds. After a short while it was sufficient to think that I sang the sentences, I did in my mind, but pronounced them with normal intonation. I never had any trouble after that. Maybe this will help somebody.
This is NOT about stuttering; this is about elective mutism.
I studder as well. My worst letters are S and TH, any words starting with these letters is tough? I am now 50 and my studdering has almost gone away.I have found pausing mid sentence helps, tappng a finger or toe for every word or syllable helps, with this technique you may have to talk slower at first, but with practice your speech will speed up and you may also stop using your little helper.I also let people know when I meet them that I do have a speech problem,this puts me at ease and relax's me.One major thing is confidence,when I volunteered at a golf course,I had to stand in front of many people and give a speech, I have yet to studder. RELAX BE CONFIDANT!
What a wonderful documentary. I learned a lot. I watched one documentary where a woman, a single mom of three, was only able to speak without a stutter if she smoked Marijuana. The transformation was remarkable. She claimed it allowed her to live her life. Has anyone else heard of this/ or found this worked for them?
i stutter a lot more when i smoke pot
I used to stutter bad lt starting at 14. Tried techniques to fix it. the thing is I tried so hard not to stutter the more I tried not to stutter the worse it was. At 15 I had an idea. I was going to embrace the stutter. Every time i stuttered I would say (in My head) "Stutter you Fuc...er embrace the stutter be a hardcore stutterer celebrate it!' this stopped what I considered to be a 'feedback loop' having perfected the technique I stopped stuttering that day. Hope this works for someone else.
Stuttering is a feedback loop in my experience clear as day.
Haha, that is awesome :). Very wise
How about carry a small device and type what needs said, and perhaps the device would even speak for you. Does standing in line for a flu shot come to mind? I hear flu shots damage human DNA, but I'm no expert. Maybe it's the flouride in the water, perhaps taking a generation to evolve into damaging enough to affect a human. I wish well for all and everyone.
This is a great documentary, i stutter, but rarely, just with some people, or in certain words, its irritating and frustrating not being able to express yourself, but i'll try some of the tips I saw here like speaking slowly.
I saw another great doc on studdering and studdering finch "birds" very good as well..
you're weird. I love it.
what is the name of the doc on studdering finch birds?
I just love this documentary. As a matter of fact, it put so well the fears, the anxiety, the tension, the stress and the shame we can feel during speech. I know well because I use to be a stammer. I wish we could have a follow-up about the evolution of each of these three children.
I have a friend who stutters slightly some times and aside from a little bit of nerves, I think it's primarily because he thinks in two languages simultaneously.
I think that makes sense. Especially if both languages were essentially the base languages of the child
I stutter occasionally but only with specific words that, I think I convinced myself I will stutter... like the words that start with certain letters.... sometimes I convince myself that I will stutter if I say the exact next word that is on my mind, so I prefer to stay silence as much as I can. Most of the time I speak very fluently but there are certain people that I find more harder to talk to normally- even if there is no pressure on me, even if those people are my friends or family. It's funny how I talk about it with some people and they are convincing me that I don't stutter just because I can talk normally with them- it's kinda extreme transformation... It's hard when I know I have to talk, like in school- it's so irritating when you have what to say and you don't because you know you will stutter and look stupid. To large majority of people is so much more important HOW you say it, then WHAT are you saying...
@Ginka, it has nothing to do with attitude. But the stutterer can develop a phobia towards certain activities like speaking on the telephone for instance which will aggravate the stuttering.
Stuttering is a life long affliction that cannot be cured. When I was a kid I was classified as a type III stutterer which is apparently the worst kind but the least noticeable. It's not as noticeable because I rarely stammer like b-b-b-b-b-bread for instance. If someone were to ask me to say "bread" and if I were to stutter, I either wouldn't be able to say it at all or if I were to really put forth alot of effort I would make a choking sound because my vocal chords will seal and no air can get through.
Stress really aggravates the stuttering. People who aren't even stutterers by nature can stutter in a very stressful situation. Take a stutterer and order them to speak aloud in class and their stress level is going to go through the roof. Non stutterers, teachers, and even therapists don't understand the problem unless they suffer themselves. It's best to exempt the stuttering child from reading aloud, or having to call their name in attendance. Forcing them is only going to drive them crazy and make the problem worse. If a stutterer wishes to read aloud then let them. The lack of stress by making the decision themselves will prevent them from stuttering severly.
Stutterers can never be a teacher or a lawyer or hold any position that involves having to speak often in front of many people. Unless of course if you're quite drunk, and no one is going to hire a drunk teacher or lawyer. Maybe a drunk politician. No matter how long you go speaking fluently eventually you will stutter again.
Something else that really bothers a stutterer is if someone cuts them off while talking. The interruption of fluent speeech can make you begin stuttering when you try to restart the flow.
Stuttering sucks.
I've heard from other friends who teach that stuttering is more prevelant in their classes in the south east of England, London and Essex. After seeing the first guy being told to soften his voice as a managment technique and hearing the little girl acting very stressed and aggressive on the telephone, I wonder if it is directly related to the attittude towards communication in that area. I know there are more speech therapists in the essex health care system due to impededments like the 'bru-ver' 'mu-ver''fa-ver' thing but is this related to stuttering?
Does anyone have access to any further information on this point?
I am wondering if stuttering can be a product of a child being put into a stressful situation such as given conflicting messages by authority figure.. such as to speak and not to speak.. or putting pressure on the child that what they say could jeopardise their survival or that of other people, before they had the chance to learn to speak?
I am wondering if this can also be from the effect of consumption of dairy by children during the developmental stage of life in which they are learning to decode auditory language(receptive aphasia) and encode into verbal language.
@ Claudine - Stuttering has nothing to do with vaccination. Nearly 100% of the people in industrialized countries undergo a full spectrum of vaccination as children, and only one-half to one percent of people are stutterers.
I felt the need to address that point because so many people have been misled by pseudoscience 'linking' vaccination to language problems and autism. Just because a disorder presents at roughly the age of vaccination doesn't mean the two are connected, anymore than vaccination causes potty-training. I'm not even going to address the rest of what you said because I've got better things to do than type a dissertation on germ theory, but your view of medical theory was disproven during the renaissance. Catch up.
Question: did the stuttering occurs after vaccination? Vaccines are known to create blockages in the vascular system in the brain and can cause major damages. Please search this for your own assurance.
However, I have a total different view on the healing process that requires a different perspective about who we are. For now, I recommend watching "The Living Matrix" which is a documentary about the "forces" behind diseases and healing. I also am working with "the energy field" to induce healing and life changing transformation in my practice. I hope that you investigate for yourself and discover the infinite powers you have to heal yourself and others. I work for free because the gift to heal is free and unconditional. So, you can contact me at anytime. Love,Claudine
dear. im 20 years old and i have also speech problem mostly in stress enviroment.what i do,plz help me and reply me on gived e.mail address
thanks
name: javed
age: 20
I really feel for these children, and hope their determination always pays off.
It seems to be that the stammering occurs more based on stress and anxiety then the types of sounds or words they try to produce. They understand the process of talking, but when they feel pressured their brain circuitry freezes up and their stammering is conditioned as the mid-speech response.
Possibly the causes of stammering could be more related to the reactions to thought processes when put under strain, then that of vocalizing.
Great documentary on the hard road ahead of this people.