Feedback from Students
Via the Online Course Feedback Questionnaires
Orchestral speech:
- I tended to find that the other person not understanding what I’m saying was a bigger problem when using orchestral speech. Purely for the fact that even though the Jump demands that you don’t stop also, I felt more comfortable as if there was a little more leeway to compose myself with jumping, even if just for a couple of seconds. Getting to the end of a conversational phrase with Orchestral Speech then felt worthless if the other person just didn’t have a clue what I was saying, made even more irritating by the pre-formulating beforehand. I did have some success though, largely for extremely short phrases which didn’t demand a long duration of not stopping, asking for a drink at a bar yesterday was one instance. I also found reading aloud was improved with orchestral, I have now taken to underlining words in a book before I’m expected to read them. Being that the lines connect with each other if I’m underlining an entire sentence, it feels smoother and less pressure on myself to read the line without stopping entirely – keeping a smooth flow of talking even if I find myself halting at words. Doing that has made me feel more confident with reading aloud generally, which has been significant as an English student ironically. To summarise: conversational speech has been a challenge with orchestral, but reading has seen its benefits.
- I found Orchestral Speech the most helpful when I imagine the words in my head which are moving forward. I sometimes struggle to get a rhythm and not sure sometimes what beat or rhythm to use. But the words highlighted in your head helps. It is hard when my jaw us tense as I sometimes have secondary symptoms where I pull my mouth sideways. .Also I need to remind myself to use the Jump as the main technique to help non avoidance.
The Jump:
- I’ve had some success with it, and some unsuccessful attempts. My biggest failing is resisting the temptation to try harder after I fail, I find it to be a subconscious panic I find difficult to control. In more recent times I have had an uprising of successes with the Jump though, specifically when I’m using shorter words, or speaking within a conversation that doesn’t demand a persistent level of clarity or engagement to understand from the person I’m conversing with. I’m getting better at controlling it and actually ‘jumping’ rather than ‘pushing’ – so I’d say I have a positive experience overall.
- The main challenge I found with the Jump is trying to reduce the time between sounds. It is very good to reduce avoidance and to keep moving forward. Also when I’m tense I find it harder to use. Sometimes people don’t understand you and you need to be focused to use a different technique in order to be understood.
- I am sure this is an amazing technique, but I think until I am more overt about my stammering I will always have too much to think about whilst talking & before talking (& even sometimes after talking if things haven’t gone to plan!) to also prepare for & practice ‘the jump’. More interesting to me though, is how many times I have heard it being used by other people.
Mindfulness and Cognitive Therapy Module
- Mindfulness & Cognitive Therapy: Absolutely brilliant! I have always been a fan of mindfulness & meditation but never really thought about their usefulness in the world of stammering. I did almost a 40-day meditation challenge & the difference to my brain activity was phenomenal. I always have so many thoughts at once, my brain can almost feel like it is buzzing, meditation was so helpful with that. I am sure the thoughts were still there, but I could just let them flow by like a river & enjoy the stillness.
Understanding Stammering Module
- I really found this section a game-changer. It gave me such an insight into why I stammer or what could possibly be some of the factors anyway, which made me feel a lot less broken! I found some of it just too heavy to understand, as I have no educational background in linguistics & such, but what I could understand was just incredible.
Overall Impressions
- Great course, never thought of the process and procedures of why I stutter, interesting to look at the reasons, I will try the techniques and hopefully improve, many thanks.
- Thank you. Recently, my optimism about improving any level stuttering was renewed when reading and listening to materials about changing the mindset. Final thoughts: I’d just like to say how much the course enabled feelings of exclusion with my stammer to be eased. And how much I received generally with being able to understand it to an extent I couldn’t have prior. I will definitely go back and look over the modules I haven’t at this time, and refresh myself with what I have already gained from this course.
- I found it valuable to identify the type of symptoms I experience, in my case being predominantly overt. As well as understand and reflect on my own experiences and potential viable causes in the Trauma slideshow.