About the Methodology

🎯 The Core of the Method

The essence of the method lies in strengthening the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, relaxing the larynx and upper chest muscles, developing articulation, and releasing tension from the speech apparatus.

At the same time, you should eliminate anxiety — that is, do the exercises independently in a calm atmosphere. We focus on a few exercises (all of them are here). The most important thing in such sessions is not to lose motivation and not to get tired of them.

15–30 minutes a day is quite enough. You can practice for hours, but watch the health of your vocal cords.

It is advisable to pronounce words in a low voice (in vibration mode). A low vibrating voice puts the vocal cords in a position where they are most stretched, which will allow us to stretch them further. A hoarse voice causes strong cord vibration — this is very effective, but easy to "strain" the cords. I recommend reading in different modes: normal voice, low, high, vibrational.

📖 Platform Terminology

Block — a temporary stoppage of speech, when a person wants to say a sound or word but cannot begin due to muscle tension.

Hesitation — a minor disruption in speech fluency, where the following occur: repetitions of sounds or syllables, stretching of sounds, short pauses before a word. Unlike a block, a hesitation is usually less tense and passes more easily. Simply put: speech "stumbles" but does not stop completely.

Tension — muscle tension during speech in the chest, tongue root, jaw, and other organs of the speech apparatus.

Trigger — a word or phrase that causes a block, hesitation, or tension.

🧠 Your Own Speech Therapist

No one knows better than you which words are difficult for you to pronounce. And only you feel the muscle tension in your chest, tongue root, and jaw when stuttering. During the exercises, you should find words (I call them triggers) and syllables yourself that cause a block, hesitation, or tension in the speech muscles.

⚠️ Difficult Words (Triggers)

You probably have many words that cause a block, hesitation, or tension. You try to replace such words with synonyms in every possible way (but don't worry, you won't need to do this for long).

On the right side of the screen (you need to log in) there is a button that opens a window where you can save triggers and indicate their importance. During reading or conversation throughout the day, write down triggers — they are used in the exercises.

🔗 Any Tension Is a Block

If you have a slight hesitation or tension in a calm atmosphere, in a stressful one it's almost guaranteed to be a block. You can even tell, after saying a word to yourself, whether you would say it or not. Muscle memory works well — it's precisely because of this that you stutter in your sleep, even though the muscles are barely working.

We need to stretch and strengthen the speech muscles so that in a calm atmosphere there is not even tension, and then, in a stressful situation, your muscles won't tense up.

🔬 What Causes Stuttering

The causes of stuttering are not fully understood. Research shows that features of the nervous system, heredity, speech development, and psychological factors may all play a role in its occurrence.

My methodology does not attempt to address all possible causes of stuttering. It focuses on what can be trained daily: breathing, muscle tension, articulation, and speech control.

⚡ Speech Rate

People who stutter often speak quickly. The fact is that blocks in most cases occur at the start of speech and on pauses. Fast speech is a kind of "crutch" to avoid a block, but breathing becomes disrupted and we still get a block, only with additional tension in the diaphragm and intercostal muscles. Fast speech is also an indicator of a weak diaphragm and of you holding air with your larynx and chest.

When we develop the speech apparatus, you will naturally slow down your speech, since there will be no need for speed.

🫁 Breathing

We need to train the diaphragm, abdominal muscles, and lower intercostal muscles to "brake" the exhalation without jerks and control the portions of exhaled air. Breathing should be predominantly diaphragmatic, while assisted by the intercostal muscles.

Breathing exercises can be done in the background, i.e. while doing other things.

🧍 Posture

Posture is both a cause and a consequence of stuttering. People who stutter tense the larynx muscles, intercostal muscles, and they sort of twist their posture. Also, in childhood, poor posture at a desk/table serves as an additional cause for the onset of stuttering. We will release tension from these muscles to correct posture and walk with chest forward, not face down.