Help is at hand for the one in a hundred people whose stammering can have a devastating effect on their lives
WHEN YOU consider the vast array of illnesses people can suffer from, you might think that having a stammer is a rather small ailment, an inconvenience really that shouldn’t impact too much on everyday life.
Well, think again. Just consider how uncomfortable it can feel to speak to someone who stammers and then think about having that uncomfortable feeling coupled with the difficulty of getting the words out every time you speak.
“We say that it’s a bit like an iceberg,” says Jonathon Linklater, a speech therapist who stammers himself. “On the surface, there are the blocks and repetition of words, the loss of eye contact and the moving around of head and hands, but underneath there is all the emotional stuff – the fear, embarrassment and shame that people who stammer feel.”
Linklater has had a stammer since childhood and although he has tried various approaches, he still stammers a little. “We estimate that about 5 per cent of children will stammer at some stage. [Some] 2 per cent will recover with speech therapy, 2 per cent will recover without it and about 1 per cent will continue to have a stammer. That means that about one in every hundred people have a stammer,” he explains.
This figure may seem high but Linklater says that’s because many people hide their stammer. Did you know, for instance, that actors Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson and golfer Tiger Woods have a stammer? Marilyn Monroe was another famous stammerer, and some people even suggest her refusal to go on stage sometimes may have been due to her stammer and not her infamous moodiness.
“People who stammer will often avoid speaking on the phone. They will avoid job interviews and many don’t reach their potential because of their stammer,” says Linklater. “It can develop to the point that they will avoid life to a certain extent.”
As the general manager of the Irish Stammering Association and the facilitator of the Dublin Adult Stuttering programme, Linklater meets many people who have hidden their stammer for years. The programme invites adults who stammer to attend an intensive series of group therapy sessions, followed up by monthly support meetings for as long as they wish.
“The programme, which is HSE funded, is based on avoidance reduction. We encourage participants to go into situations that they have been avoiding. For instance, we’d encourage them to go to the shop and ask for things they want and to make telephone calls. You might stammer when you do it but you’ll get what you want. People need to learn to accept their stammer,” he says.
Lynch attended the Dublin Adult Stuttering programme five years ago when she realised that her daughter, Bevin Murphy, was also developing a stammer. “I was a covert stammerer – even my mother and my sister didn’t know that I still had a stammer because I used word substitution and I avoided situations,” she explains.
“I wouldn’t ask for things in a shop and would spend endless amounts of time looking for things. I’d always buy pre-packed sandwiches rather than ask for one to be made up. For years, I pretended as much as I could that I didn’t have these problems, but inside you know you have difficulty speaking.”
It was only when her daughter started stammering that Lynch decided to address her own problem. “I didn’t want her to live that kind of life and I realised that I couldn’t ask her to be open about her stammer if I carried on the way I was,” she explains.
Although very fearful of attending the week-long residential course of the Dublin Adult Stuttering programme five years ago, Lynch is glad she did. “Now, I feel it’s like any change you make in your life, you have to keep practising. I find the ongoing support I get at the monthly meeting is really important to me. It helps me find ways of handling myself and being at ease with my speech,” she explains, by phone from her home.
Her daughter, Bevin (11), has also received support from the Irish Stammering Association through the innovative drama workshop programme held in conjunction with the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin last summer. "The drama camp was great. We did breathing exercises and worked on a play," she explains, also speaking to The Irish Timesby telephone.
Encouraging people who stammer to talk without fear was the theme of the Irish Stammering Association’s open day on Saturday. The event was also the launch pad for a new video for schools, which the Irish Stammering Association aims to have online later this year.
Linklater says there isn’t a catch-all cure for stammering. Early intervention with speech therapy works for some children. Specific breathing programmes can work for others.
Meanwhile, research is continuing into the reasons why people stutter or stammer (the terms are interchangeable now, although originally stammering implied the blocking of words while stuttering implied saying the words unclearly).
“Neurologists have found that the brain is misfiring on some level when people stutter. But, this misfiring could equally be caused by the psychological reaction to stuttering,” says Linklater, who is doing a PhD on the subject.
“There’s probably not one definite cause – it’s linked to the person’s environment, personality, family history and the development of speech and language. If there’s a cure, it’s not to care and then it won’t hold you back as much,” he adds.
See stammeringireland.ie or tel: 01-8724405
STAMMERERS: HOW YOU CAN HELP
- Listen to what is being said. Let them finish their sentences. Don't interrupt and make suggestions of words as only they know exactly what they want to say.
- Keep eye contact and be patient. Don't answer questions too quickly and keep other family members from speaking for the person who stutters.
- Don't give advice about talking. Don't suggest the person should slow down, take a breath and think about what they have to say.
- Do encourage family members or friends who stammer to go out and face situations that they have previously avoided. Stuttering without shame is the aim of good therapy.
