7. Understanding stuttering better

Understanding stuttering better is the key to developing an efficient strategy with stuttering. 

If you're not quite satisfied with your speaking, with your clients' results or with how you feel about your kid's stuttering - start with understanding it better. 

• Stuttering is not a dot. It's not something that "just happens." It's a cycle that reproduces itself. 
• The insecure speaking structure is the first big blind spot we usually don't quite recognise. We usually focus on speech impediments created by this insecure speaking structure. 
• "Everything is fine with me in general" - that's a very common deep feeling and belief among people who stutter. And it makes sense because most people who stutter would say that "I don't stutter alone." 
• So, here's the full cycle:  insecure speaking structure —> speech impediments —> bad feelings about it —> anticipation and anxiety.
• The anxiety is not coming out of the blue, our brain knows better. It's going to produce tension and anxiety as long as the speaking structure is insecure.

• Neurological predisposition is not something we can fix but that doesn’t mean that we can’t unlock this cycle.
• We can create a new cycle where we feel great about speaking interaction. A new cycle that starts to reproduce itself. 
• Largely, it comes down to openly and proactively using the training speech and creating new real-life experiences.
• This way we can create a totally new emotional state where we actually like being the spotlight, express ourselves fully and enjoy speaking interaction.

As an action item and as a way to visualize the cycle we talked about go to this blog post.

Full episode description: https://www.freefromstutter.com/podcasts/free-from-stutter-team/episodes/2147802429