9 thoughts on “Supporters”

1. It’s very clear to me after extensive experience in helping people who stutter, that stuttering in adults is not so much a problem with speech but rather an issue with how we see ourselves interacting with the world around us and with specific people; a problem with the EXPERIENCE of verbal communication. For the majority of people who stutter the behaviour is preceded with feelings of anxiety, fear and panic whether from the current situation or triggered from the same or similar experience in the past. Treatment therefore must be holistic rather than just speech focused. For research to be better targeted and treatment of stuttering more effective, I believe we need to better define the various elements that result in stuttering, whether overt or covert. I therefore support Dr Mark Irwin’s excellent attempt to introduce the term Stuttered Speech Syndrome thereby helping people to better understand the complex dynamics involved in stuttering behaviour.

2. Bravo, Mark. You’re addressing one of the most important aspects of stuttering — the language we use to speak about it. Language shapes how we see things. So when our terminology is lacking, it’s easy for us to (1) misperceive what’s going on, and 2) overlook things that should be addressed. The term Stuttered Speech Syndrome will help us approach stuttering-related issues with much more precision and clarity.

3. Mark,

   Your website on Stuttered Speech Syndrome is a unique and long overdue addition to the internet resources relating to stuttering. For too long the words “stutter, stutterer and stuttering” have been used to describe “a basket of speech dysfluency symptoms” that desperately need an expansion of terminology so that people who suffer, to varying degrees, from the various manifestations of speech dysfluency can be better understood by those who seek to find successful ways to treat not only the seen aspects of the disorder but also the unseen aspects. I commend you for the time you have taken to bring your well considered ideas to the internet. I also encourage those who seek a deeper understanding of “stuttering” to spend time on this site and consider using and/or expanding/discussing the new terminology put forward.

   John W Steggles
   Vice Chair
   International Stuttering Association

4. Hello Mark, Thank you for all your work and caring in promoting the Stuttering Speech Syndrome (SSS). This is very much needed to educate people about the disorder of stuttering. For me, your approach has always been primary for establishing speech therapy goals for people who stutter. I believe that PWS will only really improve their communication abilities when they work at all aspects of the disorder and not just the fluency. To me as a stutterer and a Board Recognized Fluency Specialist, working on the Social Anxiety Disorder aspects of stuttering are most important and then, and only then, can fluency be obtained.

   Judith Eckardt, M.S., CCC-SLP
   Board Recognized Specialist in Fluency Disorders
   NSA Tucson Chapter Facilitator

5. By all means, call it a name/s if you must. It seems to give people the idea that they have a “handle” on IT.
   In my experience, removing fear of the audience and learning to believe there is nothing wrong with me gave me the confidence to say, “no need to stutter anymore”.
   Any attempt to stop stuttering, think about how to speak, breathe or monitor my speech caused me to fall back. After five years of letting go of all aspects of being a stutterer, including being a member of a support group, I’m finally free. I implore all who want to help stutterers: PLEASE, please don’t treat the stutter. It’s a mind thing!

6. Mark, as a physician in neurological rehabilitation I experience the impact that diagnostic criteria and terminology have on influencing attitudes to, and directing treatment of, chronic disabilities.

   For me as a stutterer, your definitions resonate with my lived experience. Accepting that there will be overlap between your groupings, they demonstrate the essential feature of good diagnostic criteria – they direct treatment appropriately.

   I would urge speech language pathologists to consider adopting this framework. Implicit in it is that, for targeted patients, using the team approach that characterises neurological rehabilitation may provide the best outcome.

   My grateful thanks for adding innovation and clarity to your scholarly research of the literature.

   Dr Michael Bennett MBBS DGM MRCP(UK) FAFRM (RACP)

7. Since my childhood, living with stuttering and a physical handicap, I had the opportunity to feel the evolution of my personal reaction and the reactions of others.
   Early, it appears to me that there was a need to find appropriate terms to describe stuttering so that people can better understand it.
   The concept of SSS fully comes up to my expectations. It’s simply a genius finding.
   Since I have been connected to stuttering world I have never seen definitions that perfectly describe what stuttering is. Like Tour Eifel that was criticized at its beginning, I’m sure that, in future, SSS will be viewed as worthy finding for a world that understand stuttering. You have my full support.

8. Thank-you Mark for adding clarity to my childhood experience. I too wondered why there are people who stutter but don’t seem to be shy, and aren’t afraid to be heard regardless of their stutter…Then there was me who used to avoid speaking at all costs, in an attempt to hide my stutter.
   Good luck with spreading the word on SSS!

9. I loved your definitions! I always thought the term ‘stuttering’ was too restrictive. I can now see how even the term ‘covert stuttering’ doesn’t tell the whole story.

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