Mastering the struggle of stuttering | Broca Brothers | TEDxGroningen

For people who stutter, communicating can be a frustrating experience. Longing to be fluent speakers, Hille and Sjoerd decided to take a new approach to get rid of the barriers which stopped them from being able to speak freely.

Hille & Sjoerd Stellingwerf are the Broca Brothers. Together they founded an organization through which they inspire and coach people who stutter in their journey of becoming fluent speakers.

Hille began stuttering when he was 5 years old. He has always used music and singing as a way out, to express himself. At 25 he I quit music, knowing he had to pursue his ability to use the most genuine form of expressing yourself: talking. Sjoerd is a master's student at the department of Social Psychology at the University of Groningen. He has been stuttering since he was young, and makes a conscious effort to become a fluent speaker.

[johnjayluyao]

Been frequently stuttering for 25 years now. It kills me so much. It makes me afraid to talk and I never opened my mouth unless it is a necessity. It makes me feel less. It makes me feel I'm not normal. It makes me feel different from normal people. I feel helpless. Oh God, Lord I will praise you and worship you for everything. No disorder nor impairment can refrain me not to be grateful everyday of my life. To those who stutter out there, change the way you see yourself. You're God's masterpiece.

[Baggiolyful]

I used to have a severe stutter. I overcome it by finding the "music in my voice" practising voicing all the vowel sounds in all the words. Reading dramatically and stretching all the words to get a feeling of sound in all the words. The hardest part is then having the courage to use this in real life. But you slowly become more confident. It's a process that takes hard work, time and courage.

[harisankar]

"It's like a Demon that controls you" Man I cried knowing how real it is 😭

[communicatieman]

Regarding curing our stuttering, from what I understand is, we only stutter for one reason: if we are alone we don't stutter. If we add a person, we stutter. The only thing that changed is psychological thoughts. Physically our mouth or physique didn't change.

Thoughts themselves don't cause pressure, it's the way we look at them that causes 'stuttering' to bother us. So the only reason we stutter, is because of our opinion of our stuttering. What thought triggers our stutter exactly? The answer is, we have a thought of doubt: "I cannot speak the word fluently".

This thought on itself doesn't trigger our stutter. It's the way how we look at this thought, where we attach a causal association to stuttering, so to be precise, this is what we are actually doing:
a. We make a decision: We stutter
b. Attach value: because
c. Negative thought: We doubt our ability to speak fluently.

We can deal with b and c.

Solution A:
We can use ignoring and distraction. This is what Del Ferro does, by moving our focus from b and c, towards breathing, we distract ourselves from b and c. Problem: the moment we stop distracting ourselves, we stutter again, because we haven't dealt with our root problem: b and c.

Solution B:
We can accept b and c and learn to move on. We can do this in this way: if we stutter, then don't react/feel/believe in b and c. Only notice it, accept it as reality, don't fight it, just observe it as a passing thought. It's just a thought. Because the moment we feel pressure (for example, when we are stuttering), then we instill more doubt. By learning to not let it bother us, by telling ourselves 'so what that we stutter', we stop TRYING to speak fluently, our goal is no more perfectionism and then the moment we don't have doubt of our ability to speak fluently, we speak 100% fluent.

Also, our goal is clearly also not stuttering. So, just let your body speak naturally without trying to control it, without taking into account other things. Because there is nothing (technique, therapy, preparation, checking, reassurance-seeking) that remove stuttering completely. The only thing that cures stuttering, is not ADDING, but REMOVING (removing our doubt). Fluent speakers don't TRY to speak fluently. If we stutterers are alone, then we don't TRY to speak fluently. The same principle, if we add a person, stop TRYING to speak fluently. For example, stop TRYING to remove doubt, stop trying to ignore/distract, stop trying to focus on the present/breathing, stop trying to deliberately stutter (exposure), stop trying and stop checking 'if you can speak fluently' because this is called seeking reassurance which is the CAUSE for stuttering. Do you agree?

[seanniebergall]

I stuttered when I was able to talk and I'm 17 years old now and I still stutter and I never let this get In my way of anything.

[halaa]

there's no cure for stuttering, but i like what they said and how the second brother described stuttering as a "demon”!

[EmilyHummingbird]

A little bit of my story: I used to be so shy and quiet and it was because of my stutter. I literally have talked my way out of it - or mostly anyway. I still get random flair-ups and I’m in one right now and I’ve even been stuttering on my own name. Ugh. But that’s okay! I’m talking more and have been for years now. I feel a lot more confident now, even though my stutter has never really left me. But again, that’s okay. Anyway, thank you for this. <3

[merediths.]

I’m 51 now and I still stutter. I think my stutter is mild - moderate but definitely more severe at times. It is still very hard to handle and I still avoid certain things sometimes but I am so much stronger than I was when I was younger . I would not even speak up if I thought I was going to stutter. Now I face my fear with my stutter every day. That’s the only way to do it. I also used to think that people would not want to talk to me if I stuttered and I have learned that most of the time people are so kind and patient and don’t even care that you stutter. It took me a long time to realize this but being a person who stutters has also made me a much more compassionate and patient person.

[isamayed]

i used to stutter badly so bad, now i am a fluent speaker. i think its all about reducing the effort you exert in order not to stutter coz that will cause you to stutter !!!!

[thomasfuller]

"I have a little robot
That goes around with me
I tell it what I'm thinking
I tell it what I see
I tell my little robot
All my hopes and fears
It listens and remembers
Everything it hears
At first my little robot
Followed my command
But after years of training
It's gotten out of hand
It doesn't care what's right or wrong
Or what is false or true
But no matter what I try now
It tells me what to do"
-Moe Norman. 🙃

[kazj]

Public school speech therapists are the reason I’ve had a rewarding career in law enforcement, legal consulting, and public policy: all speech-intensive jobs. Thanks to them my stutter has improved easily 80-90% for its worst, when I couldn’t say my own name, to now where I only have a few sporadic “off days” here and there. Speech therapists are truly lifechanging saints in my eyes.

[cameronmarietta]

Love this speech. It’s so amazing how like I’ve been struggling for so many years with social anxiety, and a stutter. All the while so many people have been going through the same thing and overcoming it… it’s amazing how I always thought I was alone.

[shobhitjain]

Hello broca brothers,

This is the 2nd time I have seen this video .1st was in 2019.
And since then I joined a speech therapist.
Today 2023, I have moved miles ..yeah I still do struggle here and there and in tense situations..but mostly I practise I exercise my daily speech exercises..

You impart inspiration and motivation. Your speech was better than people who have no speech difficulties..it had pauses, articulations, break and everything.


Love u guys..

[speechnirvana]

This is so instructive, so great. I am a veteran stutterer of 55years. I have at times taken the responsibility the Broca Bros are talking about. When immersed in the discomfort of what I feared and challenging myself to be courageous the world just cracks open and I feel that "ease with the world" these fellas are talking about. Now they can work on their spelling..Responsability!

[mjsgmc]

I been stuttering since I was younger now I still do. It's not fun. I've been bullied at school I hardly ever had many friends because of it. Really I don't think there's no cure for it.

[lotusp]

I love you guys ! you don't know how amazing you are ! Thanks for ur influence !

[cphdotdk]

Incredible - well done brothers! So many good good points.
As a stutterer myself, who have benefited greatly from using techniques and cognitive therapy to understand the fear, what did you do the past 3 years that helped you and how was the process?
I'm curious to learn more about what you did and what "thought process" you had while doing it.
The idea of changing a negative experience into something we can learn from, is also something I use and it changes the mindset completely (decreasing shame significantly).

[dr.inkwell]

THANK YOU SOO MUCH and CONGRATULATIONS for doing this ted-talk!! It was really inspirational to me. I believe that stuttering is some timeline-distortion/ interdemensional-indecision type effect. And when you stutter, you are analyzing and calculating which infinite dimension/reality you want to enter, through cause and effect of the present univers, the laws allow us to experience in this aspect of time/life. I believe this is why "Morty" from theb"Rick and Morty" T.V. Show, stutters the way he does. Stuttering is very powerful, when it comes to our infinite selves.
Here's a rhyme/poem that I dont remember writing; "timelines fluttering as stuttering turns to muttering other things under another beings mothers singings."

[thewintercatalog]

The important thing to realize is that you are not your stutter, or in my case, your symptom of anxiety. I found I was caught in the trap of trying to "justifying" myself constantly, such as the word "just". Ultimately though, it's the effort of pushing through and taking those opportunities to speak when you feel nervous and bearing the discomfort of pausing and thinking we're less than others because of that. I wish all of you the best of luck in overcoming this symptom of anxiety and the vicious cycle that keeps it going.

[robertcastillo]

I remember when I used to stutter a lot when I was young, I seemed to have difficulty with certain words. I compensated by substituting similar words. My stuttering was definitely related to stress and tension. When I was around my family or friends I seldom stuttered. Life is difficult if you don't know how to cope with stress.