Day one tune ups:
1. Practice complete breath target twenty minutes. Formally feel the diaphram expand. Practice throughout the day. 4 important steps to follow:
1. Let out residual air.
2. Take in slow relaxed deep brath.
3. Slowly let out air.
4. start process over.
This is vital for fluency. Tune in tomorrow.
You can become increasingly fluent with hard work and intensive therapy. I did it. YOu can too
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2 comments:
Hey Lori
How do you help people feel they have not failed if they are unable to correctly practice the targets?
Thats the one thing I find so tough to embrace about FS - it makes me feel like a failure if I can't feel my diaphragm or don't take enough air in.
How do you reassure clients that they themselves are not failures?
That is a great question. I try and set small goals for therapy sessions. I prefer intensive therapy because I don't think you can gain enough confidence in a short session. I think that could easily set you up for failure. So for ex: goal 1 might be that you can feel your diaphragm expand 10 times a day. Then acknowledge how woonderful it is that you did it. I am cautious about encouragusing using tools in conversational speech until I have seen success with myself, family members and at groups. We work on positive attitudes and acknowledging the positive characteristics of oneself. Beating yourself up doesn't help. It took me many years to realize this. It is hard to adequately answer this briefly, but I can say that breathing is the hardest target I know. I don't believe therapy is short term. I believe it requires constant follow up and practice with others who stutter, the support of a speech pathologist who will be in constant contact with you and embrace your accomplishments. I have had positive feedback from the people I work with. Are we 100% fluent? No, but much more fluent than we have ever been. Sometime the fear can halt the breathing as well. Hope this helps in some way. Let's face it, it is not our fault we stutter. Why blames ourselves? Who said we have to be fluent in every speaking situation? No one is!!
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