Selects: How Stuttering Works | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

hi everyone it's Chuck here I'm going. back in time let's all go back in time. together in fact this Saturday for our. select episode to Summertime August 15th. 2017 and this one is about stuttering. how stuttering works it is pretty. interesting. actually so check it. [Music]. out welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart Radio.

[Music]. hey and welcome to the podcast I'm Josh. Clark there's Charles W Chuck Bryon. there's no Our Guest producer today. which means it's still stuff you should. know that's right the Jerry free edition. yeah feels. weird she's like I can't do this today. I'm going to the. mall she's leaving us for the mall I. know that's weird ever since we did that. mall episode and she learned it was a. thing.

right you know she's like this sounds. like my kind of. place how you doing I'm doing pretty. good I'm uh been wanting to do this one. for a long time yeah and I think I. started to research it and I was like oh. man maybe we went on tour or something. like that I got pulled away from it and. never went back to it so I'm glad we're. doing it finally so stuttering if you're. in the in North America or. Australia and stammering if you're in. the UK perhaps is that how it works uh I.

don't know I know that stammering is. what they call it in the UK do they call. it stuttering in Australia as well yeah. this thing I pulled up just said in. general it's North America and Australia. you say stutter and gotcha UK they say. stammer but it's the same thing right it. it's basically uh I think the way that. they get around that is calling it. dysfluency no one calls it that the. scientists. do I never heard that word sure this. fluent see so I think that's actually.

the clinical name for what we call. stuttering or stammering depending on. where you are yeah and wasn't that uh. Colin fth movie called the dysfluent. prince who would be king yep I think. that was the working. title what they call it uh the King. speech yeah pretty good movie yeah it. was cute. cute it was anytime you get Jeffrey. Wright in there in an inspirational role. it's gonna be a cute movie uh Jeffrey.

not Jeffrey W Jeffrey Rush yeah agreed I. don't Jeffrey Wright always plays like. the super smart like kind of um like a. deep State guy Jeffrey Wright he was. baskot right am I thinking the right. guy did he play basat I think so I don't. think so in the movie basat yeah isn't. that Jeffrey Wright I don't think so. who's Jeffrey Wright Jeffrey Wright has. been in tons of stuff just look him up. you'll be like oh that's Jeffrey for you.

right. okay this is going terribly already no. it's great this is basically like the. podcast equivalent of stuttering because. Chuck stuttering also known as. stammering better known as dysfluency. is an interrupted flow of speech okay. but what when it starts to qualify for. what we would call like stuttering or. stammering it is it's really noticeable. it's um it it has a a an interrupting.

effect typically on the conversation or. the communication that's meant to be. going on the speaking that's going on um. that's on the far end of the spectrum on. the on the other end of the spectrum. apparently just about everybody engages. in disfluent speech I'm particularly. guilty because I say um a lot and that's. a a form of disfluency and disfluency. Chuck comes from the idea that um that. when you speak fluently you're speaking.

in a flowing manner that that is easy to. follow typically and is UN interrupted. but when you start adding things like um. or pauses or uh that kind of thing like. that uh that's that's disfluency and. again disfluency is a normal part of. communication if it occurs about less. than 10% of the time after that you. start to get into the stuttering SL. stamar ing Spectrum or side of the.

disfluent spectrum yeah and one thing I. learned you know you and I uh. both QA quality assure each episode. which means um this a little behind the. curtain Peak but Jerry will send them. back to us and you listen to it once and. then give her any like edit notes or. whatever um and thoughts and then I will. listen to it and um generally I have no. edit notes um um um and I found that I.

know we're both going to be so. self-conscious about that this well. that's where I was getting to though I. found early on when listening to these. episodes of. ourselves uh that it it's it doesn't pay. to focus on disfluency in our own. language because it can drive you nuts. it really can and so we have a. conversational podcast so we're not. trying to uh you know we're not. Churchill or or Henry or uh was it Henry. the 6 no.

it was yeah it was. um I don't remember just call him F how. about that yeah we're not calling fth. addressing the the country on the. airwaves where it was very important. that he come across as you know uh a. certain had a certain fluency but right. um when it comes to stuff like this I. think people are used to the fact like. occasionally we'll get emails like go. you guys sure do say like and um a lot. right and um we're just just like our.

response is better luck finding a. different podcast yeah this is not for. you no uh so anyway I learned to not. drive myself crazy with that stuff no. but it's funny you bring that up because. I was just yesterday listening to um the. Stockholm syndrome episode for stuff you. should know select right and I must have. said like o five times over the span of. 10 words you can't even don't even. listen to that but even I noticed it I.

have I'm pretty good about tuning it out. but even I noticed at that time and it. really kind of raises this issue that. that the whole thing about stuttering or. stammering is not that it's a it's a. disorder or disease or a the sign of an. unintelligent person or that the person. can't think of what they mean to say. it's absolutely none of those things it. is strictly an interruption in.

what we would consider normal. communication and so attention is drawn. to it and it turns out that that just. makes the problem worse and worse so it. it turns into this vicious cycle yeah um. to. where that but that's all that that's. all it is that's it that's really it and. I mean like there's there's different. theories about what's behind it or what. could make it worse or what could. possibly make it better but really all. it is is just interrupted communication. between two people cuz it's not like the. person who's who's stuttering uh.

stutters in their head like it's. strictly when they're speaking and. communicating with other people so it's. it's pretty it's a unique it's a unique. condition yeah and there there generally. three ways in which that flow can be. interrupted um one is is. repetition um so if you say the first. few um like the beginning of a word if. you repeat it uh a few times in a row. and then say the word um another would. be prolongation.

so if the word is like you would you. would roll that L out by itself for a. long time right uh and then the last. would be an abnormal stoppage which is. just no sound at all coming out yeah a. block yeah a complete block um have you. you know anyone with a severe stutter. sure yeah I've I've I've known people. with stutters before yeah I I know. somebody with a very severe stutter and. it's always interesting because I think. and we'll get to like what you should.

and shouldn't do as a participant in a. conversation with someone who stutters. right but. uh before I read this I knew that just. as a courtesy what you probably. shouldn't do which is correct is try and. complete someone's sentence for them. yeah uh even though that urge is there. you know it's just a natural instinct. because people do that you know when. speaking all the time yeah if someone. can't think of a word or something but. like you said that's not what's going on. no no and and I mean that and I think. that urge also comes from a a good place.

typically like you're not you're not. saying like uh pitch is the word stupid. that's not what you're saying when you. when you when you finish their sentence. you're helping them along right to to. keep the the conversation on track right. but what you're also doing is saying. you're not communicating effectively I'm. jumping in and taking over on your. behalf just sit there and be quiet so um. yeah we'll talk more about what to do or. what to what not to do when you're um in.

in a conversation with somebody with a. stutter I know what you mean you're. trying you're trying to help you're not. trying to like be a jerk yeah but it's. it's not a help no it's not but I I. imagine they also understand to a. certain degree too well I probably just. from being exposed to it so much yeah. for so long and some people feel you. know like with anything like this some. people might be used to it and have been. like well you know this how I talk I've. tried to uh correct it and I've kind of. learned to with it and other people.

might still feel really bad about it. yeah I I read a uh a I guess an essay a. blog post basically by a guy named. um man I can't find it anywhere great. great blog post um where he said I I. recognize and accept my stutter yeah and. it was on say.org his name is Danny. litwalk l i t w c k litwak Maybe I. embrace and accept my stutter it's great.

he talks about his um his experience. with growing up with a stutter his whole. life and just what a negative impact it. had on him for a very long time and I. saw this elsewhere but the first step. toward um either either getting past. your stutter or just getting over the. fact that you have a stutter is. accepting that you have a stutter yeah. and that's a that's I from what I can. gather a really big First Step because I.

think people recognize that they have a. stutter to themselves but there's also a. um there's they take measures to protect. against sharing that with other people. right so I read uh another um a story. about another person who grew up with a. stutter and when they got to I think. college or something on the first day of. this one class everybody went around and. said where they were from and this. person said that they forgot where they. were from rather than than having to say.

Wilmington Delaware because of the W and. the D so instead they told the class. they forgot where where they where they. were born and grew up because in that. case there were certain uh triggers yeah. the W and the d The W and Wilmington and. the D and Delware so there's like a lot. of um obfuscation that people with with. stutters engage in people with stutters. are not to be trusted in other words but. they they have to they have to basically. just take steps to make it seem like. they don't have a stutter and I think. what this guy uh Danny litwack was.

saying and then like I said I saw. elsewhere people saying like I have a. stutter like this is how I talk you're. going to have to like either just walk. away during the conversation or just let. me finish on my own time but this is me. and this is how I talk and I'm accepting. it or learning to and you're going to. have to as well and that's the the first. step as I understand it once you're an. adult I should say I think there are so. many things in life where that's the. case oh yeah man instead of like at a.

certain point at a certain age you I. think or at least I got to a point where. like well I can really continue to work. to try and change this thing or I can. just accept that this is kind of who I. am right and be happy yep don't worry be. happy now so don't ever strive to be. better people just accept how messed up. you are right and force everyone else. around you to accept it uh should we. take a little break here mhm all right. we'll take a break and we'll come back. back and get into some of the stats and.

um how stutters can develop right after. this. [Music]. [Music]. [Music].

all right so we're back uh promise stats. yeah the stats you shall receive um 1%. roughly of uh adults in the world. stutter yeah but um that is not 1% of. children because many times in fact. about 75% of the time um well 5% of. children stutter and about 75% of the. time they will lose that d fluence uh as. they grow older right leaving that at a.

1% number as adults yeah and so in the. US there's that means there's about 3. million or so maybe three and a half. million people adults that stutter right. um more women yeah uh is it more women. sorry more men more men four to five to. one it's like four to five uh in. childhood and then it goes to like three. or four in adulthood okay so by far men. stutter more than women and um although.

in strangely boys tend to naturally lose. their stutter if they're going to lose. their stutter in childhood more than. girls yeah and I don't think they found. any Rhyme or Reason to that at all right. no man there's there's like a lot of. lack of understanding as far as. stuttering goes yeah scientifically. socially there's just they we just don't. know that much about it which is. surprising because apparently as far. back as Moses people have been.

stuttering on record yeah we'll tell. that story later oh okay um about 60. there could be a genetic basis because. about 60% of people who stutter have a. family member who stutters yeah and I. also saw that among mono zygotic also. known as identical twins if one twin. stutters there's a 90% chance that the. other one does as well oh interesting. but for. dizygotic like fraternal twins there's. only a 20% chance so there's clearly a.

genetic basis to stuttering somehow. right but it's also one of those things. where it can be genetic doesn't have to. be um sometimes if you uh like suffer a. head trauma you might develop a stutter. right um sometimes it's developmental uh. sometimes there it could be obviously. with something like Parkinson's disease. uh that could be a symptom but those are. to me I think probably different kinds. of stuttering but still. right so there's basically two main.

categories developmental which is by far. the more the the the one that accounts. for the most cases of stuttering yeah. and then the other is acquired like you. said say from like Parkinson's or they. put you on a prescription that like. suddenly is making you stutter there's. also psychogenic which is supposedly an. emotional trauma can give you a stutter. I don't know if that's just leftover. lore because apparently they used to. think all stutters were the result of.

some psychology yeah and they they just. say well no it's possible or some people. have it and just haven't figured out. that it's not the case at all or if. there really is a small section of. people who do have psychogenic stutters. but but all of those would fall under. Acquired and then the other one is. developmental boy how about that guy. that took mushrooms and quit stuttering. yeah that's so interesting I saw a TED. Talk of his once oh really yeah he um. he's it's like all about mushrooms.

saving the world Paul damit y yeah he um. he leads off our article on how stuff. works and he um had a sever stutter uh. was very affected by it kind of withdrew. socially uh went camping one time took a. bunch of psychedelic mushrooms and. climbed a tree got up there uh uh. decided he could not climb down um and. then the storm came in and got really. intense and he he said sort of felt one.

with the world um which sounds about. right and uh eventually the storm passed. he came down and while he was up there. during this intense experience he was. like I will not stutter anymore and he. just kept saying that came down and he. had lost his stutter yeah and apparently. he didn't relapse which is pretty. unusual I think so he started studying. mushrooms for a living yeah he became a. myologist man I got to I've said this. before I'll say it again one of the best. articles I've ever read in my life was.

called blood Spore yeah and I think it. was in Harper and it was um it was about. a murder in the world of mycologists it. was just so interesting blood Spore. coming soon to a theater near you I hope. so he should write the script yeah so. stamis was um remarkably Lucky in that. he just basically decided not to stutter. anymore and stop stuttering yeah um. apparently. the fact that he didn't relapse is.

probably what's most remarkable because. I I think relapsing among stuttering. treatments is actually pretty common oh. yeah yeah but again this is once you get. out of childhood it's fairly common to. have to develop a stutter as you're a. child as you're learning to talk and. then it's equally common to lose that. that stutter as you age um usually. within 18 months of developing the. inside of the stutter um but then as you.

as you acquire this or develop this. stutter as you get older it apparently. becomes more and more set in and that. seems to be the because of the um. plasticity of your brain when you're a. kid yeah start it's almost like from. what I can gather it's like if you have. a stutter past a certain point it almost. gets locked into your brain as your um. neural Pathways solidify and cement yeah.

that makes sense like you learned to. have a stutter after a while yeah and I. think they say to wait I think they wait. like three months before they even start. looking into it because that's how. fleeting a stutter can be uh when you're. a little kid. right so after three months they'll say. all right maybe we should start looking. into this right you'd want to go to a. speech pathologist who will be able to. diagnose it yeah and usually what. they're looking for when um you take.

your child who's developed a stutter to. a speech pathologist is um how. pronounced it is there's a guy um in I. think the late 90s named Barry. guitar he sounds like he played you know. guitar for the band Boston he knows all. the chords no wait that's Guitar George. right sorry what's that from oh come on. Guitar George is that a Ray Stevens song.

no it's from Dire Straits Sultans of. Swing oh got you that's a good song yeah. it is a good song I love it uh so Barry. guitar came up with five levels of. stuttering development and I already. referenced the first I know his name's. off I just can't get over that I already. referenced the first level which is you. um you have less than 10% of your speech. is disfluent that's that's anybody. walking around like that right yeah. unless you're like the king of England. or something and then ironically unless.

you're that one king who had a stutter. yeah um and then it goes on the from. there and just gets worse and worse but. one of the things that's attendant with. these um these different stages of. development of a stutter. are like emotional problems or symptoms. like comorbid symptoms along with the. stutter so there can be things like. blinking like um like like pursing your. lips where you're frustrated where. you're angry where you're fearful where.

you're. anxious in conjunction with stuttering. and so this is the kind of thing that. the speech pathologist will be looking. for to kind of diagnose your kid like no. this is just normal kid stuff or. actually this the stutters developing. faster than we'd like it to so we need. to start treating it now well that makes. sense because uh dopamine we've talked a. lot about dopamine on the show The. neurotransmitter mhm um if you have an. overabundance of dopamine. um we talked about in the tet's episode.

right uh is that one of the things that. can be comorbid with stuttering because. I know too much dopamine can lead to a. stutter as well yeah supposedly um so. dopamine controls movement right yeah. and if you have too much it makes you. have ticks like Tourette you were saying. well it can so I noticed this um that. Parkinson's and dopamine are um I think. they're they're like Parkinson's has to. do with too much dopamine yeah and.

Parkinson's is one of the ways that you. could acquire neurogenically a stutter. yeah so that makes total sense that. there's something in your brain with. dopamine transmission to where you have. maybe too much of it and so you're. you're trying to um you're having. trouble get getting the thoughts in your. head into the the movements that it. takes to create the speech yeah I mean. it's a little clumsy the way the brain. does this um it would be a lot easier if.

it was streamlined in one part of the. brain but there are two distinct parts. of the brain uh that deal with language. processing and one is the one that. processes it and one articulates it with. uh in a motor skill way yeah and when. those two things have done brain Imaging. uh mapping and they found that there's. some sort of discontinuity between those. two processes going on right when. there's a stutter that's stuttering. right so it could be too much dopamine.

that's one thing um again the the. research into stuttering is so basic at. the moment it's it's really surprising. um what they're trying to figure out. though is are you born with the stutter. like you when you're born you're you're. going to have this problem because your. your brain isn't um using dopamine. properly or is overproducing dopamine or. uh are you as your brain's developing. something goes a little off to the side.

to the left and your brain has trouble. with dopamine from that point on so. they're trying to figure out the. ideology of it in other words did you. look into this uh the genes the four. genes yeah a little bit did do you find. names for those I did not that is how. basic the research is right now yeah. they're not even saying what genes. they're finding yeah apparently they did. discover four different genes uh that. are linked to these proteins and these.

proteins are sort of like um they're. responsible for what's called cellular. trafficking so they kind of make sure. that the elements of the cell end up. where they need to be within that cell. right um and they said. that more than one neurological disorder. can be linked to this trafficking. process so I guess it's related those. proteins and those genes yeah but. they're like who knows we just like. they've gotten to the point where they. have identified there's something up.

with these. proteins in in the cells and it's linked. to stuttering somehow now just give us. like 10 years to go figure out how right. but yeah they're they're starting to. realize now there's some sort of genetic. basis to this to. stuttering well I mean I think the twin. study that says a lot right there for. sure you know yep um should we can we. talk about Moses I think it's high time. we we talked about Moses we've been. dancing around the burning bush for a.

while. now I uh I can't believe that got to. laugh well I was laughing because every. time I think of burning bush I think of. Three Amigos and how funny that singing. Bush was I never saw that one Three. Amigos yeah I could do the three Amigo. salute but I I never saw it oh man. that's a classic really yeah really oh. sure why is that surprising. I don't know I I feel like I would have.

seen it if three comedic icons right. funny movie oh I know why I never saw it. cuz Chevy Chase is in it oh you I'm sure. I'm sure no remember my dad raised me to. really dislike Chevy that's right so I. probably wasn't allowed to see it that's. right you didn't see Fletch. right I think I stopped watching Fletch. like partway. through my dad had a real influence on. me and why didn't he like Chevy Chase. though I don't I have no idea you had a. to pick I I guess I think he thought he.

was a jerk or something well he he was. right turns out Dad was right all right. so Moses um I I know a lot about the. Bible because as listeners know I was. raised in the church uh but I didn't. know this I don't remember this story at. all yeah I hadn't heard it either so. apparently Moses uh was a little baby at. one point and the. Pharaoh said uh was warned you know that. Moses was was going to uh not be his.

friend when he grew up so he said all. right let me try something out I'm going. to give this little baby Moses a choice. between a bowl full of gold sure and a. bowl full of hot coals this is what you. do with babies if he choices the gold. then I'm G to kill him yeah typical. typical Egyptian stuff. yeah um so of course with a baby Moses. is going to reach for the. gold um and then apparently an angel. intervened Todd Todd the angel and.

directed uh little moses' hand to the. hot coals instead a little gruffly if. you ask Moses Moses grabbed a hot coal. put it in his mouth and that's how he. got to the stutter and he's blamed Todd. ever since and here's what I don't get. is that um Moses went to God and was. like Hey man uh I'm supposed to lead the. people out of Egypt I have a bad stutter. and you know can you do something for me.

you're God and God said no. sweat yeah he said no God Mr. Ed you didn't know that talk yeah uh. because he was God so God said um yeah. sure I can help you out just have your. brother uh Aaron take the mic right and. Moses was like I was more thinking like. you'd perform a miracle on me but yeah I. probably could have thought of having. Aaron speak for me as well God thanks.

for that though I don't know how I. missed that story he apparently there's. a quote I am heavy of mouth and heavy of. tongue and I saw some um Bible site. where they were debating whether or not. what they were talking about was a. stutter apparently some later hebraic. text said that Moses had trouble. pronouncing th's Thorn sounds oh okay um. it sounds more like he had a lisp than a. stutter but who knows let's go with. stuttering though cuz a lot of people do.

say that Moses had a. stutter thick tongue yeah it's it's. pretty. thick it's I've gotten used to it but I. remember at first when we first started. doing this like man I should not be. speaking for a living like this is I. have a speech impediment no you don't. pure and simple no it's just everyone. now just thinks hey that's Josh's voice. yes it's so grading smooth and silky. mhm who else in history Josh uh let's.

see the emperor Justinian apparently had. one uh or no I'm sorry I was wrong it. was um deanes he was a Greek. Statesman he apparently was smart enough. to say who could help me with a stutter. oh how about an actor somebody who. speaks broadcast their voice for a. living so he hired an actor to help him. and the actor had him do things like. chew on Pebbles and try to talk yeah.

smart um he he's he did his speeches. while he's walking uphill I guess to. control his breathing this is actually. pretty sharp stuff I think out of out of. all the historical treatments that we're. going to cover this one might most. closely resemble aside from the mouthful. of Pebbles um modern treatment for. stuttering yeah which is to say uh. speaking exercises right uh well you did. say Justinian I don't know if Justinian.

had the stutter but his at the very. least his physician M uh Aus of Amita. was one of the first people to say hey. maybe that the frenulum you know that. little flap of skin under your tongue. right uh the connector to the the bottom. of your mouth man he was the first one. that said why don't we start slicing. that thing up no uh and just the tongue. in general over the years there have. been all kinds of surgeon that tried. variations of slicing the frenulum or.

cutting down of the tongue itself now I. could probably use that one by uh HD. shigin shoen I'm sure that's how you say. it the second way yeah he he basically. said stuttering is a result of an. oversized tongue which I have let's just. slice and dice a little off the sides. but none of these things worked I know. of course it didn't work it's just. horrific apparently though at the same. time there were these surgeons who get. all the Press because their stuff is so. horrific but there were also other.

people who were kind of on the right. track a little more like uh Moses. Mendelson in the 18th century he thought. that there were too many ideas or. thoughts that were flowing at once and. that um it was basically it was blocking. speech there was too much trying to get. out basically like The Three Stooges. model of stuttering remember they're all. trying to go through the door yeah yeah. yeah see you got too much to say and you. want to just get it all out right.

interesting that makes a little sense um. arasmus Darwin uh he said that it was. bashfulness emotions like bashfulness. that messed up the pro the process of. speaking right okay definitely on to. something there as well and then a. psychologist named Sandow said that it. was brought on by either a dread of. speaking or an ere eagerness to speak. kind of like What U Moses mendleson was. saying in the latter example so it can.

be brought out by two completely. opposite things yeah yeah so a lot of. this actually is kind of in step with. our current thought about stuttering and. so either that means that these guys in. the 18th century were preent or our. understanding of stuttering is stuck in. the 18th century right I'm very curious. to know which one it is uh shall we take. a break yeah let's all right we're going. to come back after this this final break. and talk about therapies that don't.

involve uh cutting your tongue apart. [Music]. [Music]. [Music].

all right so now we're in the modern. days and we're not taking scalples to. the frenulum any longer because they. realize that it's not a physical. Affliction of the tongue uh it's it's. somewhere inside the brain most. likely and uh they have a lot of. recommendations for when a child um. starts to stutter and it and it sticks. um and you found some other tips too. which are great um for parents and kind.

of one of the main ones is is give your. kid plenty of room to talk plenty of. time to talk make sure they express. themselves fully uh because one of the. the side effects of having a stutter is. your child may just end up retreating. and being super quiet yeah I got from. this these tips for parents that there's. kind of this maybe not fully spoken idea.

that you can actually cement your. child's stutter if you handle it poorly. yeah when they start to develop it like. like which knowing that just makes you. even more tense about dealing with it. correctly I would guess which could make. the whole process even even harder but. there are some pretty brainless things. to do this one almost killed me when I. saw it. Chuck the the uh site I think kids. health is where I got this one but it.

said maintain natural eye contact with. your child try not to look away or show. signs of being. upset yeah get like just break the arrow. off in my heart yeah that's pretty sad. like don't look away in disgust when. your child is stuttering you. monster go look in the mirror and take a. bamboo shoot and put it underneath your. fingernail and think about what you've. done uh another good one is um and it.

this feels like something that would be. easy to do because it seems. well-intentioned to say like you know. slow down son take your time take a deep. breath they say to not do that yeah uh. because you know might might make things. worse yeah because what you're doing. then is you're drawing attention to the. idea that your child is not speaking. correctly and uh rather than just. apparently letting them communicate at. their own pace right yeah there's also. seems to be a a suggestion that the.

child has learned the child your kid has. learned to speak to stutter because. they're trying to get too much out at. once yeah and they may have picked that. up from you if you have like a rush rush. rush Pace in your household yeah one of. the things that that they suggest is to. just kind of slow things down at home. and in addition to like like schedule. wise and like just taking time and just. like letting everybody breathe maybe a. little more than you guys are um also.

speaking more slowly not just to your. kid but also to other people when your. kids around yeah speaking slowly letting. setting an example it's called modeling. your own speech so that your kid feels. like they don't have to blurt everything. out at once to get their point across. they they're going to be heard no matter. how long it takes you're going to sit. there and just listen to them speak yeah. and not and really listen U another. thing that seems like a no-brainer but.

really just try and focus on on what. they're saying and not the fact that. they're uh stuttering those words out. but you know when your kid tells you a. story about something happened at school. right don't concentrate or or even bring. attention to the fact that it's being. said with a stutter right but just take. take in their story and if it takes a. little while longer then just respond. accordingly yeah and and in that same. vein like don't tell your kid to stop. and start over when they start. stuttering yeah like like they're they. have to get the sentence just perfect or.

else you're not going to hear them out. and don't tell them to think before. speaking that's not helping anything at. all um be honest yeah like don't try. and uh mask it and say that oh well you. don't have a stutter like this is just. you know uh you're just in a hurry or. something like they just say to be. really honest and say you know what you. you have a stutter and it's a dis. fluence and it's nothing to worry about. and. uh if you'd like maybe we can uh talk to.

someone that can uh do some exercises. with you and you know just like all this. sounds like no-brainer not being a. monster parent yeah but again some of it. does like telling your kid like okay. slow down take a breath now what are you. saying like you think you're helping. your kid you're not right so so not all. some of it is is monstrosity others is. just like this is this is what people. naturally do but it's it and it seems.

intuitive but you're wrong your. intuition is dead wrong just let your. kid talk and listen to what they're. saying not how they're saying it right. and apparently this is this is a a good. these are good this is good advice wow. that took me a second to get out thank. you though Chuck for Patiently hearing. it then sure um this is good advice to. helping your kid just naturally um shed. the stutter the developmental stutter we. should say say all of this we've been. talking about is is dealing with a.

developmental stutter although a lot of. it just applies to people with with. adult stutters out in the real world as. well like you can you can take just. about all of this and apply it to a. business conversation if you have a. co-worker who has a stutter like don't. look away and disgust there's there's. good advice right there all throughout. your life when you're when you're. watching or listening to somebody with a. stutter yeah I mean maybe don't do that. at all unless just a real jerk yeah you.

know yeah life advice but it's it's a. good point is if you're sitting there. and you're and you don't look like. you're hurrying somebody with a stutter. along you're just engage you're you're. into the conversation no matter how long. it takes I can't imagine how much that. must help and one thing that we didn't. really I think point out that that bear. is pointing out is that people who. stutter do not necessarily stutter in in. the same frequency throughout like their.

day right yeah there's definitely. situations that are um that were are. going to make the stutter way more. pronounced they're almost exclusively. associated with higher anxiety. situations I think the national. stuttering Association says that the. number one situation where a stutter is. going to be about as bad as it gets is. during a job interview and so employers. please don't think that this is how this.

person talks this is probably as bad as. their stutter gets however they're. stuttering in the in the job interview. um so if they're say at home um and. they're just talking to their wife or. their kid or something the stter is. probably going to be far less pronounced. than it would be if they were having to. give a speech um at their friend's. wedding you know yeah and I found that. um with this uh person Emily and I know. that it's um. it can vary a lot within a conversation.

um it's a very severe stutter and then. they will say like a couple of sentences. straight through with nothing and then I. think oh. man like it catches me off guard because. I'm so used to the stutter MH and I. think well you know that's super. interesting to me you just like blurted. out a couple of two or three long. sentences with zero stutter or stammer. on thing um I know but they're fun to.

say together aren't they they are uh I. don't know I just find it really. fascinating. um you know Speech Pathology can come a. long way I know that there are uh it. well it's funny I looked up online about. curing stuttering and of course there is. no like patented cure but Tony Robbins. after listening to her or recording our. motivational speaker thing I saw a video. I didn't even watch it I just saw the. title it said Tony Robbins cures a man. of a stutter in seven minutes right so I.

was like oh come on yeah yeah I didn't. see anything that said stutter. stuttering cures there's basically none. yeah I did not look into I didn't have. time to look into this uh new device. though did you uh yeah a little bit it. seems pretty untested as far as real. world application goes but it makes. sense intuitively and apparently it does. help in a clinical setting so basically. it's like an ear like a hearing aid. right but it changes the person who's.

speakings voice and a little bit does it. replay it yeah out loud for everybody no. just for the person in their ear right. because one of the one of the ways that. somebody who stutters will be able to. talk perfectly well is speaking in. unison or singing oh okay so like you. you can be sitting there talking to. somebody just oneon-one and and your. stutter could be quite severe but then. if you and the person agree to sing. together you may not stutter at all the.

whole time you're singing and I I I have. no no one has any idea why that's the. case they just know and this device is. based on that that when we're talking in. unison or someone who has a stutter is. talking in unison with somebody else. their stutter tends to go away so what. this does is it creates an echo there's. a bit of a lag with their own voice so. they feel like they're talking in unison. with themselves so it helps the stutter. again at least in a clinical setting um. I don't know if it would just be too.

distracting in a conversation or or what. but I got the impression that they. haven't tested it fully or proven it. fully outside of the lab well the. singing makes sense cuz remember. melis the name sounds familiar he was a. country singer who uh had a really. pronounced stutter uh kind of around. like 50s 60s and 70s uh' 70s is when he. was biggest but yeah but you know he was. on like and stuff Grand old Opry sing. like a bird and then has has a had a.

tough stutter when he was talking to the. audience and that's what he was known. for oh yeah yeah it was like you know. obviously what an act but that it was. his shtick yeah speaking of so um. another famous stutterer Chuck are we. there no yeah uh Porky. Pig yeah yeah so I was I was looking up. Porky Pig right because you know that's. an unusual choice to have a cartoon.

character who stutters and it turns out. that Porky Pig has a stutter because the. guy who originally did Porky Pig Joe. Doty MH had a stutter in real life oh. really yeah pretty sweet huh pretty. heartwarming well wait there's more. yeah he did Porky Pig for the first two. years and then they fired him because he. kept missing the cues because of his. stutter and they brought in a guy who. didn't have a stutter to do Porky Pig. from that point on but he did it with a. stutter yeah cuz it was established.

right well that's cruddy is't that sad. that is sad y except Porky Pig's trick. was to go to a different word yeah which. is a fairly common technique though yeah. I imagine so yep like if you get hung up. on something just say something else uh. that means the same thing yeah that's a. good one or I think um people will say. uh oh I can't remember and and just act. like they can't remember the word when. they know full well what word they're. going for or they just can't they can't. say it so they just pretend like they.

they couldn't or they forgot what they. were talking about should we name off. some of these other famous stutters. because uh I think if you're an adult. stutterer you probably know these people. sure you may have looked it up to feel a. kinship but maybe if you're a little kid. out there it might make you feel better. to know that uh Darth Vader himself. James Earl. Jones was a stutterer yeah big time. Emily Blunt yep she's terrific mhm.

Samuel Jackson surprising right there. yeah cuz the F bombs flow from his mouth. like he was born with that Talent right. uh who else from Pulp Fiction Harvey. kitel yeah I can't see Harvey kitel. stuttering no and I guess all of these. people just went through speech therapy. huh I would guess so or else they all. took mushrooms. because it doesn't say whether or not. they were like stuttered as a child or.

when they overcame it yeah but uh Nicole. Kidman Albert Einstein uh oh really um. Carly Simon and you said Winston. Churchill earlier too he had a stutter. as well yeah Bruce. Willis yeah that's surprising too huh. Shaq I could see I think I've actually. seen sha stutter before on TV really mhm. uh see Bill Walton talk Woods Charles. Darwin Jane Seymour Dr Quinn herself.

yeah Joe Biden who will hopefully run. for president. right he overcame his stutter yeah well. all of them did which is great but at. the same time there are people out there. who have accepted that they have a. stutter they probably spent a lot of. time and money trying to get rid of it. and it hasn't gone anywhere so they've. kind of embraced it so I mean if you've. gotten rid of your stutter and you've. overcome it that great but if you've. also embraced it good for you as well oh.

boy how about this one you want to talk. about overcoming a stutter uhuh Kendrick. Lamar oh yeah wow if you can overcome a. stutter and then become Kendrick Lamar. right then uh that that should be a. shining example people that you can do. anything yeah or if you embrace your. stutter good for you as well agreed. because you could be mellus who is the. Kendrick Lamar of country music or Porky. Pig the Kendrick Lamar of cartoon pig. that's right you got anything else about. stuttering I got nothing else we'd love.

to hear from people though huh yeah for. sure um get in touch with us and the in. the meantime you can find more stuff. about stuttering including a lot of uh. support and resources for parents um all. over the web and there's things like. say.org and the national stuttering. Association and all sorts of great. resources if you uh are looking for some. information and since I said uh it's. time for listener. mail all right I'll call this um coming.

to see you in Chicago but by this point. we'll be I went to see you in Chicago. right and was. disappointed hey guys want to Rite in. and say what a great show I just saw no. kidding uh I want to write and say thank. you for putting together a really great. podcast longtime listener and fan and I. even mentioned you in my work bio and I. checked it out and she did that's. awesome I really appreciate that stuff. you should know is informative funny and. familyfriendly all at the same time uh.

this was especially valuable when my. fiance and I took his 10-year-old. brother on a road trip from Chicago to. Wisconsin Dells uh in the car we. listened to a playlist of uh sysk. episodes that I put together to suit his. 10-year-old taste how spiders work how. ice cream works and most importantly. because we were going to Wisconson. Dell's self-proclaimed water park. capital of the world how water slides. work nice which oddly is one one of our. highest performing shows ever people. love water slides man they love hearing.

about them they love looking at pictures. of them it got shared or something it. was so weird I can't remember but I went. to look at our download numbers one time. and I was like water slides is to the. tops huh higher than. marijuana well higher than. marijuana. hilarious uh those episodes really. entertained him and introduced him to. the concept of podcast for the very. first time thanks for everything you do. uh and she said they're going to see uh. the fiance and uh Mara or Mara are going.

to see the Chicago show so I hope you. had a good time yeah and thank you very. much for supporting us in our live shows. we appreciate that tremendously for sure. uh if you want to get in touch with us. like Mara did or Mara we're going to go. with Mara you can send us all an email. including NL and including Jerry and. Frank the chair to stuff podcast. howstuffworks.com as always join us at. home on the web stuff you should. know.com. stuff you should know is a production of.

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