Overcome Stammering Before Your Next Birthday

My name is Ibrahim, I am 28 years old. I got hold of my senses to discover that I was a stutterer. I had a somewhat tough childhood as a result of this. People would tell lies against me because they knew I could not speak audibly enough to defend myself. I sat down every now and then asking myself, “Will I continue the rest of my life like this?” From the age of 11, I started taking time to isolate myself, rehearsing words and expressions I found difficult to say (backed up with serious prayers). Whenever there was an incident I knew would be blamed on me, I would begin to rehearse my defense in preparation for when my dad got back from work. I continued like that for years until I came across a saying in a movie that goes, ‘No matter
how long it takes, a stammering child will one day call his father’s name’. So I thought to myself ‘If the stammering child found it difficult to call his father’s name at first, and then now he called it freely, that means with devotion he would call the name of any other thing freely’.  It was then that I resolved that stammering can be overcome. Here I am today, I am a radio presenter and no one would believe it if I told them I stuttered in the past.
In this write-up, I will share my experience with you dear reader on the huddles I met, how I scaled over them and discoveries I ‘think’ I have made on my journey out of the solitary confinement of stammering.

Getting Started

• If you really want to overcome stammering, you must make yourself understand and accept that you are not a normal person and that being the case; you want to strive to be normal. Do away with the mind set of ‘This is the way I am and everyone must accept me like this’. If you do not feel embarrassed about your condition, your relatives and loved ones do.
• Always remember what I call ‘The Unlock Code’: No matter how long it takes, a stammering child will one day call his father’s name. 

Causes of Stammering

• Genetics: Stammering is often hereditary; stammering has a somewhat long history in my own family. An individual who stammers is very likely to have children who would stammer to some extent.
• Environment: Children who do not have stammering parents might become stutterers if they mingle frequently with people who stammer before they attain adulthood, the brain tends to mimic the environment. The child will begin to see stammering as a normal way of speaking.

My Theory

When words are made by the brain, they pass through an arbitrary path to the voice box. For stutterers, this path is relatively narrow. As the words pass through the path, they collide with the walls of the path and the words don’t come out audible. The key to overcoming stammering therefore lies in expanding this path for smoother flow of words.

Stimulants

• Emotions: People tend to stammer most when they get into an abnormal state of mind; intense joy or anger but usually anger.
• Using an unfamiliar language: When a stutterer uses a language he/she is not familiar with, it tends to spike up brain activity and therefore disrupts the sentence forming process of the brain (my theory). The person then stammers relatively more than usual.
• Presence of familiar people: A stutterer will stutter more in the presence of people he/she is familiar with such as parents, siblings and friends because he/she feels they (relatives) are aware of his/her condition and as such, there is nothing to be embarrassed about. But as said earlier- if you do not feel embarrassed, your loved ones do. It will be observed that stutterers who spend most of their time with parents and siblings hardly make any improvements (speech wise).

Fighting It

• Learn new words and expressions in the language you are most conversant with: After years of stammering, your brain would get accustomed to making some words and expressions in the ‘stammering mode’, this will tend to make you stammer whenever you use those words and expressions. To circumvent this, have a change of ‘brain library’. When you use words and expressions that have not been influenced by the stammering mind set, you will flow more smoothly. If you find it difficult calling a word, look up its synonyms and use the ones that are easier for use to call. After some time, even the difficult words and expressions will become easy to call. You will still need to work though because some words just don’t have synonyms. For instance, what is the synonym for ‘honey’? Bee shit? Heck no!
• Learn proper pronunciation of words: Sometimes the language we are most conversant with is not an official language. In places like Anglophone Africa, one will be left with no choice but to speak English. A bulk of what is spoken in Anglophone countries as English is actually wrong (pronunciation wise). Therefore, a stutterer learning to pronounce words properly will be like learning a new language free of the stammering influence. I once had the view that learning a new language with an ‘anti-stammering’ state of mind will eliminate stammering but hey, life’s too short.
• Recite poetry and songs often: Growing up, I used to be a music lover; the rap genre in particular. I would memorize entire songs mime them over and over again. That way, my brain got used to certain words and expressions and I was able to use them in normal conversation to some extent. Today though, for faith reasons, I don’t do music anymore. I have turned to poetry and nasheeds as they serve the same purpose as far as what we’re talking about is concerned.

I made other observations knowledge of which could help us with this problem.

Observations

1. After some time you pronounce some words with ease: This shows that with devotion, you would pronounce most of the words with ease (The Unlocking Code).
2. You stammer less when you read from a script: This shows that stammering is more of psychological than physical. You stammer when you speak from your brain because you doubt your capabilities. Get rid of that fear and anxiety and you will flow.
3. You stammer less when you speak calmly: Do not try to compete with normal people speaking sporadically lest you make a laughing stock of yourself. The pitch of your voice is not the issue, the most important thing is speaking audibly while retaining your self-worth.
4. You stammer less when you are sure of what you are saying: I noticed this when I started speaking on radio. Whenever my preparation was shady, I found myself stammering on-air. However, on days in which my preparation is sound I flow like a butterfly. The same thing happens when you debate or discuss with your peers, you flow better when you have a clear understanding of what you are talking about. So with this I will say, do not speak unless what you want to say is factual. “Whoever believes in ALLAH and the Last Day should either speak good or should rather remain silent” Muhammad (SAW).

What has been said so far is for adults who stutter. Now, some adults who stutter already have children who have become stutterers themselves. I will like to give a few tips as to how to assist them out of this problem as well. The tips will also be helpful to stutterers who have no children yet.

1. Try not to stammer in the presence of the child as a parent, if you do, the child would begin to feel, ‘Since daddy/mummy speaks like this, why shouldn’t I?’
2. Making jest of them once in a while is helpful, it makes them realize that they are not normal and as such, they should try to speak like normal people. Care should however be taken to see that this is not over-done otherwise, a whole lot of negative effects might come along. These effects could be:

• Suicidal tendencies.
• The child might decide to keep mute most of the time which means the brain would have no chance to practice. This will compound the problem.
• It could create a mental imbalance in the child. 

      3. Ask the child questions often, this will get the child accustomed to talking frequently which will exercise the brain. Tease the child once for every five times he/she stutters while answering question.    

      4. Send the child on errands to places where he/she will have to speak to unfamiliar people (whom you trust. This makes the child realize that stammering is not an option; it keeps the child’s brain sentence formation ability in check at all times.

      5. Make the child spend holidays with relatives that do not have stutterers in the house. This way, the influence of familiarity on stammering is reduced. The child gets used to seeing his/her mates speaking freely and the child’s brain will begin to adjust. But, do not send the child to the same house consecutively otherwise, he/she will get too familiar with the people there and then begin to stammer freely in their presence. The children in the house might also pick up the habit if they mingle with him/her on too many occasions.
Note: It should be a house where the child will have play mates. The playmates will sometimes make jest of the child and that will prompt him/her to adjust. The child should also be old enough to make judgments, say 7 years of age. 

      6. Get the child to sing and memorize rhymes and songs after which, you tell the child to narrate the rhymes in normal speech. It will be best not to interfere too frequently even when the child stutters while doing the narration. It is easier to sing than to talk, this will make the child build the mindset that singing and talking involve the same things. The result will be improved speech.
Well these are the theories and concepts I have been able to deduce from my 20 years battle with stammering. I hope it turns out to be beneficial to you and your loved ones. For educational purposes, below are some facts about stuttering and stutterers:

• The word ‘stammerer’ does not exist.  We have ‘stammer’ and ‘stammering’. We then have ‘stutter’, ‘stutterer’ and ‘stuttering’.
• There are 70 million stutterers in the world that’s 1% of the world’s population. Some people believe this is an under estimation.
• Looney Tunes character Porky Pig has a notable stutter, which features in one of the character's most well-known catchphrases ("Th-th-th-that's all, folks!"). The character's stuttering originated from the authentic stutter of the voice artist, Joe Dougherty. Joe was later replaced.
• The author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, had a stammer, so did his siblings.
• Prophet Musa (as) or Moses was a stutterer.
• Medieval attempts to cure stammering included cutting the tongue or tonsils and cutting neck and lip muscles.
• Former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchhill, stuttered. This is not an encouragement to keep on stuttering.
• Men are four times as like to be stutterers than women.
• 5% of the world’s people are likely to stutter in childhood.