Overcoming Stuttering: A Personal Journey of Living with a Speech Impediment

Join us on an inspiring journey of a man who has overcome stuttering. Watch as he shares his personal story of living with a speech impediment and the strategies he used to achieve fluency. This powerful video will give you insight into the struggles and triumphs of those who stutter and the importance of support and determination in the journey to overcome it."

What is stuttering?
Stuttering is a speech disorder characterized by repetition of sounds, syllables, or words; prolongation of sounds; and interruptions in speech known as blocks. An individual who stutters exactly knows what he or she would like to say but has trouble producing a normal flow of speech. These speech disruptions may be accompanied by struggle behaviors, such as rapid eye blinks or tremors of the lips. Stuttering can make it difficult to communicate with other people, which often affects a person’s quality of life and interpersonal relationships. Stuttering can also negatively influence job performance and opportunities, and treatment can come at a high financial cost.

Symptoms of stuttering can vary significantly throughout a person’s day. In general, speaking before a group or talking on the telephone may make a person’s stuttering more severe, while singing, reading, or speaking in unison may temporarily reduce stuttering.

Stuttering is sometimes referred to as stammering and by a broader term, disfluent speech.

Who stutters?
Roughly 3 million Americans stutter. Stuttering affects people of all ages. It occurs most often in children between the ages of 2 and 6 as they are developing their language skills. Approximately 5 to 10 percent of all children will stutter for some period in their life, lasting from a few weeks to several years. Boys are 2 to 3 times as likely to stutter as girls and as they get older this gender difference increases; the number of boys who continue to stutter is three to four times larger than the number of girls. Most children outgrow stuttering. Approximately 75 percent of children recover from stuttering. For the remaining 25 percent who continue to stutter, stuttering can persist as a lifelong communication disorder.

How is speech normally produced?
We make speech sounds through a series of precisely coordinated muscle movements involving breathing, phonation (voice production), and articulation (movement of the throat, palate, tongue, and lips). Muscle movements are controlled by the brain and monitored through our senses of hearing and touch.

What are the causes and types of stuttering?
The precise mechanisms that cause stuttering are not understood. Stuttering is commonly grouped into two types termed developmental and neurogenic.

Developmental stuttering
Developmental stuttering occurs in young children while they are still learning speech and language skills. It is the most common form of stuttering. Some scientists and clinicians believe that developmental stuttering occurs when children’s speech and language abilities are unable to meet the child’s verbal demands. Most scientists and clinicians believe that developmental stuttering stems from complex interactions of multiple factors. Recent brain imaging studies have shown consistent differences in those who stutter compared to nonstuttering peers. Developmental stuttering may also run in families and research has shown that genetic factors contribute to this type of stuttering. Starting in 2010, researchers at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) have identified four different genes in which mutations are associated with stuttering. More information on the genetics of stuttering can be found in the research section of this fact sheet.

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[Angimaname]

I never understood what was so funny about hearing someone stutter. Even today, I was talking to someone and when they heard me stutter they laughed so hard and loud. And it doesn’t hurt my feelings now but it did when I was younger. I just told the lady that I stuttered and then just kept on talking. But after watching this, it made me think about that situation today.

[chris]

You know we may not be able to talk very well but it doesn’t automatically mean we’re weak.

[MyStutteringLife]

Thank you for this video! I'm 48 years old and have been stuttering for 43 years. I've had 20 years of speech therapy and I'm at 85% fluency. Once I turned 40, I gave up what people thought of my stutter and now I could care less if someone makes fun of me. I know I am AWESOME and what I found out is that hurt people hurt people. The people who were teasing me had their own demons to fight and that is not on you. Great video! Keep moving forward!

[BudG]

Bro, you are not by yourself. I stutter daily and sometimes it aggravates me. Stay strong man

[azenh]

nah this made me cry wtf, people don’t understand the pain of having this, they don’t understand the embarrassment when it comes to stuttering

[morriswilburn]

I am 71 years old, and have stuttered since early childhood. Based on my own experience and a very large amount of reading about stuttering over the years, I would say the following.

In many instances, children who begin stuttering in early childhood (age 4), for reasons not fully understood by experts in this field, will permanently cease stuttering WITHOUT speech therapy. In my opinion, it depends in part on the parenting abilities of the parents, the degree to which they have educated themselves about raising children who stutter, overall conditions within the home, bullying at school, and the severity of the biological basis of the child’s stuttering. If your child’s stuttering does not improve AND IF it becomes a problem, I recommend speech therapy. If the child seems to “be ok” with his stuttering, it is probably best to not obtain speech therapy, just try to be a good parent. If you do decide to obtain speech therapy, try VERY strongly to find a speech therapist who has been trained how to treat stuttering, and few of them have.

A better option is an approach that does not treat the stuttering, but the child who stutters. This is sometimes call the “holistic” approach.

The “holistic” approach may also be helpful as a young adult.

If a person has stuttered since early childhood and still does by his early 20’s, the continued stuttering and related stressful experiences may have caused mental health disorders. No type of therapy will be effective until those disorders have been adequately addressed. The disorders may be depression, PTSD, generalized anxiety, or some type of personality disorder regarding having normal relationships with other people. If so, he needs help from a psychologist or even a psychiatrist. In either case, try to find one who has patients who stutter.

I "have been there".

[WorldElectronica]

I also have a stutter so can sympathize and have to say that Jonathan is the hero for accepting his speech impediment and also for having his life in place. Girl is here, job and friends also, so hats of to him. And thank you for filming this

[nspector]

I don't know how you don't blame people who've made fun of you. That's....impressive. Those baby pictures really got to me.

[dianned]

Thank you Jonathan for your courage and your sharing. We need to know the reality you and those with similar challenges are facing. I do pray you experience more joy and hope as you continue to live with confidence that you are valued and offer the world so much by being YOU to the world and by your courageous example.

[abolacadernos]

Only us stutterers can understand tribulations we go through. What greatly helped me overcome mine was Lee Lovetts’ How to Stop Stuttering and Love Speaking.

[TheLinks]

crazy stuff I'm from Houston and stutters too.

[cemsengul]

I never understood how people can overcome stuttering when they are acting or singing.

[shahendaaouf]

You're so brave ❤️am living with stutter for 6 years now, i feel you

[dinayak]

i have been stuttering in my whole life

[ahmedaraale]

My stuttering wasn't bad until I diagnosed with depression it became worse now

[emilybathum]

You're okay I understand your fine

[masudrana]

I'm also a stammerer but nobody copied me in the school. Coz always I was top in my class.

[cooljaayontwos]

Thank you. I studder like this and im scared to get a job because I don’t want to be made fun of.😔. I don’t have any friends because of the fact i studder. Please help.

[BryerTheGreater]

It sucks for me in many ways because i want to become a YouTuber and its hard sometimes speaking outloud.

[saraharedhi]

im not shy and I have no anxiety but I stutter but now I controlled it and I talk now fine and regularly