The origin of your stutter

acid_ten

Does anyone know why they started stuttering?

When I was in primary school I remember we had to read aloud in class. I was sitting beside this lad who "for a laugh" would kick me under the table as I read. I used to struggle to get through reading trying not to laugh. This happened for a few days / weeks, I can't remember exactly, until I asked my parents to get the teacher to move me or him. Before that I never stuttered and since then 16 years ago I have stuttered on and off.

In my case that was my "traumatic event". Not really that "traumatic" but certainly did change my life since then.

Would be interested if anyone knows what is the origin of their stutter?

funky_monkey

hello,

All i can remember about the origin of my stammer was in primary school. You know when you're young and you read like this Ann-and-Barry-went-to-the-shop? I remember I wanted to read out loud like a grown up and all i remember is never been able to do so. I could read like that though.

Hope you gave that fella who was kicking you a few slaps!

sadie9

I remember a sibling imitating me stammering the name of my playschool teacher so must have been about 3.5yrs. So I wondered why he was doing that, asking myself did I really talk like that? It was the first of the daily incidents of being steeped in real shame and embarrassment about my speech.

BigPhil

I my case, I started to stutter when I was in junior infants (I must have been 3 or 4). I actually read about this in an old school report (that my parents had filed away at their house) and it was stated by the teacher that I was developing a stutter. The teacher I had back then I can remember pretty clearly to this day. She was VERY strict and she used to slap us across the palms of our hands with a wooden ruler if we misbehaved or whispered in class. The school was joined onto an old church and sometimes she would put children into the old creepy hall all alone for up to an hour as punishment, extremely scary for a young child. So as you can imagine I was terrified of her and I was always nervous that she might do something to me. So I think that experience has had a major contribution in developing my stutter.

This is stupid I know, but I have always wondered if I went to a different junior school, with a sane (!) teacher, would I ever have developed a stutter in the first place? I might have developed one anyway, but sometimes I think back and say to myself........................."What if"?

ParkRunner

Mine is partly genetic anyway so I was going to have a stutter regardless I think. Through primary school I had a handful of setbacks (getting stuck on a particular word when reading aloud and the whole class laughing, being bullied outside school etc) but I was always able to speak relatively fluently. Secondary school for me was where I had most problems..slaggings, bullying etc and the speech therapy around that time did not really help me in any significant way.
I have just started private speech therapy to try get more understanding of it and hopefully achieve more fluency. As much as I hate having a stutter it does fascinate me at times how complex it is.

Bass Cadet

Mine story is bizarre and ironic. My stammer started when I was roughly 7 years old. I was brought to speech therapy because I couldn't pronounce my 'sh' sounds correctly. I had always thought I had no problem with my speech so I suppose I became very conscious of my speech after that and that's how my stammer started. I can still remember the speech therapist explaining the whole thing to my parents. Anyway, I can now say 'ship', 'shore', etc with no problem but was left with a stammer instead! All you can do is laugh or at least I try to see the funny side of that!

None of my family have a stammer so I've always thought mine to be 100% psychological and I've proved this to myself by being completely fluent on many occasions while certain people or situations will trigger panic and blocking.

Ashfield

My stammer started in first class in primary school.
We used to have to learn irish verbs and the teacher would go around the room to say them, anyway being that age we used to always try and put each other off and mess it up.
When it came to me, i had to say Chuaigh me, tu, se, si, sinn, sibh and siad but with a fella in front of me turning around and staring at me, i couldnt get the chuaigh part out, and to this day that is my first memory of having this stammer. im 27 now so that would have been over 20 years ago!
Ive been to a very good speech therapist in limerick but i still struggle especially with name, address and personal details!