You might have seen people who repeat the word, prolong or interrupt the sounds, words, or syllables when they are talking. Well, it’s not their fault as they might be suffering from a speech disorder called “stuttering”.
In the USA alone, about 3 million children and adults are suffering from stuttering issues. You might find it really hard to get the words out of your mouth if you have the issue of stuttering. The words may either stuck or you might find yourself repeating those words over and over again. You might also seem to pause at certain syllables.
As per the best speech therapists in Karachi, stuttering can affect people of all ages, but it is found more commonly in children of age groups 2-6 years of age. The cause of this type of developmental stuttering can be many and it can be due to many reasons. However, this type of stuttering can go away with time. If an adult suffers from stuttering during adulthood, then it is called “psychogenic stuttering”. It can be due to brain injury or stroke.
Although stuttering can’t be treated completely, there are ways you can manage it accordingly. The reason is that stuttering is complex and everyone suffers from it differently and due to this, there is no definitive cure for it. Speech therapy can help you fix this issue.
Speech therapy includes various types of exercise for stuttering. The type of exercise varies depending on the age group and the intensity of the stuttering.
So, are you suffering from stuttering? Don’t have any access to speech therapy? Haven’t been to any speech therapist? No need to worry. We have compiled a list of exercises for you that you can try at home. Hundreds even thousands of people have tested and benefitted from these exercises.
Here is our list of exercises that adults can use to improve their stutter.
1- Diaphragmatic Breathing
Costal or diaphragmatic breathing is one of the most common and popular exercises that speech therapists use for their stuttering. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs), now opt for deep breathing as a first tool to help their patients.
During costal breathing, the therapist would ask the therapist or instructor to lie flat or sit on their back. The main purpose of this is to achieve relaxation. The person should get enough head support or bend their knees.
The person should then place one hand on their belly and the other on their chest. They need to feel that the air is filling up in their stomach as the hand moves forward and upward. The chest and shoulder should not move during this activity.
After this, the patient should try exhaling, and the hand on their chest should remain still. It is a simple yet effective breathing exercise for patients who stutter.
2- Progressive Relaxation
Anxiety and stress can further worsen the stutter of any person. In front of your class or any audience, you may have experienced intense repetition or blocks while speaking.
Progressive relaxation basically helps you in relaxing your articulator’s muscles and relieves the symptoms of hypertension, anxiety, tension, and general muscle stress.
3- Light Articulatory Contact
This light articulatory contact refers to the minimal contact between the teeth, lips, tongue, and hard palate. In this technique, people who suffer from stuttering use light movements of the mouth, such as tongue exercise for stuttering helps in the smooth flow of the air while talking.
It helps the person move on to the next word or sound in an effortless voice or smooth movement. You might feel high pressure during the consonants but it’s extremely natural.
4- Speaking While Exhaling
This is one of the methods of fluency-shaping. The onset of phonation is increased when you are speaking while exhaling.
You can master this technique easily by yourself. In this, first, you need to inhale via your nose, and then while you start to exhale you can begin speaking.
This is an easy and simple exercise. You can keep practising it in your home with your friends and family.
5- Pausing and Phrasing
This is another type of technique in the shaping of fluency. It involves the lengthening of the natural pauses. It can also teach you in inserting the necessary additional pauses in your speech phrases and words.
6- Prolonged Speech
With the help of a speech therapist, you are able to master this exercise. This particular stuttering exercise can help you in mastering fluency with the help of stretching out the vowels.
This exercise is normally recommended to be done in a combination with light articulatory contacts as well as gentle onsets of the pausing. This exercise can help you achieve a slow rate of speech, enhance fluency and reduce the pressure of articulatory.
7- Pull Outs
Last, but not least, you can try this exercise at home. Initially, you would need your therapist to show you this technique.
You can use this particular technique when you feel stuck during an unexpected stutter. It is a kind of modification technique for stuttering that can help you modify stuttering when you unexpectedly suffer from it.
This particular exercise can help an adult:
- How to reduce and manage stress during stuttering?
- How to reduce muscular tension?
- How to stutter more fluently?
