• 05- Am I able to?come and meet you before booking a course
• I am happy to people for a free non-obligatory introductory meeting.

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• 06-Do you offer additional back up after the course has finished?
• I know how hard it is to have a stammer and do everything I can to help people achieve fluency during and after the course. My clients are able to regularly communicate with me after the course via e-mail or telephone.If you have any questions please send an e-mail to: sssc_maihar@yahoo.co.in

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• 07.stammering/stuttering a disease or a habit?
• Stammering is not a disease, only a bad habit and emotional problam, developed mainly due to some psychological inadequacies in the young child's immediate environment. There is no physical defect or impairment in the speech mechanism. If one can talk without stuttering when he is alone or when not being heard or observed by others. If one can sing without any sign of faltering, it would be a fair assumption that he would be having no physical or organic defect causing the trouble. Actually all stutterers have periods of fluency.

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• 08-What are the types of speech problems treated at suraj stammering cure center Clinic?
• Young adults who suffer from Stammering or Stuttering. Children who are not fluent or whose speech is not clear and easy to understand Adults who mispronounce certain speech sounds like R or L or S. Males who speak with a female voice (Puberphonia). or anyone whose voice quality is weak, hoarse or unsteady (Dysphonia). These are some of the speech problems we treat.

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• 09-What is Psychotherapy?
• Speech therapy is to work on the speech organs and exercising the muscles in order to establish the neuro muscular co-ordination. Stabilizing a rate of speech, which is acceptable in interaction and extempore. Speech is the main aspect in speech therapy. It is in fact probably impossible to stutter in any way at all without excessive muscular tension in some form or the other.Psychotherapy is work on you fear , emotion ,thoughts  etc

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• 10-Is Stammering different from Stuttering ?
• Stammering and Stuttering mean exactly the same condition. It is called 'Stammering' in England while Americans call it Stuttering. No difference

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• 11-What is the incidence of stammering?
• Stammering is said to affect approximately 1% of the global population and occurs uniformly regardless of race, culture, education or socio-economic status

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• 12-Does it affect only males?
• Stammering is predominantly a 'male' condition and 80% of all persons who stammer are male. It is usually known to affect the first-born male child.

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• 13-Is stammering inherited?
• A significant majority of persons who stammer (65%) have a family history of the disorder; usually the father who stammers or speaks at a rapid rate. Nearly always, stammering starts before the child is 5 years of age. If left untreated, it peaks in severity around the age of 10 to 18 years.

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• 14- Until what age can stammering be cured?
• Most stutterers begin in childhood. If they are not cleared up they can grow worse. This does not mean that adult stutterers cannot be cured. Age is no bar in breaking the disfluent speech. A valuable precondition for successful therapy is the deep inner conviction of the stutterer in the creditability of his disorder combined with a fighting spirit and a readiness to undergo therapy.

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• 15-Why can persons who stammer sing without difficulty?
• One more of the unusual facts about stammering is that even the person with the severest stammer can sing fluently without any speech blocks. This is because when we sing a song, we know exactly when to say the words and there is no ambiguity in our minds about this timing. In conversational speech however, we cannot bank on any such cues but as normally fluent speakers, most of us do not need these cues. However, without these cues, the speech of a person who stammers becomes disoriented, because of his 'wrongly tuned' neurological speech-timing system. He experiences difficulty in maintaining a smooth forward flow of words in feared situations.

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• 16-How long does it take to recover

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  or be flu 16- How many hildren suffer from stammering?
• Between 5% and 15% of children stutter at some point in childhood. These are ‘normal dysfluencies’ of the growing child. Many children recover spontaneously. Some children may persist with this manner of speaking due to certain stress in the environment - birth of a sibling or other stresses of the early family life. This stress could also be due to demands made by “Grammar”, which a child is just beginning to learn at this stage. Genetics also play a role, since about half of such children may have a PWS as a close relative. The sex ratio among children who stammer is equal but gradually becomes 4 men to 1 woman in the adult age population.
• 17-Why do people stammer?

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• It is simplistic (wrong) to believe that it is just a ‘bad habit’. There is an actual ‘neurological’ disorder which makes uttering some sounds (often consonants) or transition from one sound (syllable) to another difficult. When the nerve impulse for the next syllable fails to come from the brain, the speech system repeats the last sound, until it arrives. Sometimes no sound or air may escape- a block. PWS often describe it as locking up of their jaw, tongue or mouth. This leads to considerable struggle behavior- as if we are trying to force the word out of our mouths. Eye blinking, grimace, head nodding or movements of other parts of body may be associated with this struggle. At one time, we may have used it to get out of this ‘block’, and then they become unconscious secondary behavior.

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• 18 How does stammering affect PWS?

• A common problem faced by young PWS is job interviews. Stress is well known to increase the speech difficulties. The interviewers may mistake this for lack of confidence, lack of knowledge, nervousness or a chronic communication disorder. They may not realize that the same person may speak normally on the job.
• The other problem young PWS may face is the difficulty to communicate their feelings, inner thoughts and develop enduring relationships, particularly with opposite sex. Since strong emotions make stammering worse, PWS may find expressing anger verbally difficult. Often such emotions are buried deep and result in feelings of self loathing, unworthiness and deep dissatisfaction. Without our knowing, these feelings may affect our attitudes, our view of the world, our choices of pastimes, career, relationships etc.
• On the other hand, some PWS grow into diverse directions: they may learn diverse languages, become writers, singers, actors, IT professionals, doctors, teachers etc. They may even attribute their success to their stammer and consider it as a blessing in disguise. But many PWS are not able to acquire higher education. This is because educational institutions have poor understanding of this neurological condition. Few schools have a speech therapist on their faculty.
• As they grow older, PWS may develop better insights into their problems. They may even become more accepting of their issues and problems.
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• 19- Why do people react to stammering as they do?

• Studies show that people (both PWS and those who speak ‘normally’) experience stress (raised BP, heart rate etc.) when they hear someone stammering. Studies also show that PWS experience considerable stress when they feel they have to be ‘fluent’. This is a dilemma. Who should have the onus of coping with their stress?
• Ideally, the audience should work on their attitudes by developing more acceptance to the diversity we may have in our speech. The PWS also need to work on their overall communication and not worry so much about ‘fluency’. Both need to be aware of their sub/unconscious reactions (like looking away, shifting uncomfortably, etc), in order to be able to deal with them successfully.
• How do I know if my child will grow out of her or his stammering?
• As mentioned earlier, normal dysfluencies are a part of a child’s speech learning process. But the old practice of ‘wait and watch’ is no longer recommended. The following considerations may call for an early consultation with a speech therapist.
• ·         Does the child have a PWS as a close relative (uncle, cousin, father, etc)?
• ·         The child repeats sounds more than twice, li-li-li-li-like this. Tension and struggle may be evident in the facial muscles, especially around the mouth.
• ·         The pitch of the voice may rise with repetitions, and occasionally the child will experience a “block”—no airflow or voice for several seconds.
• ·         Normal dysfluencies come and go; but in this case, these are frequent and persistent.
• ·         If the child stutters on more than 10% of his speech, stutters with considerable effort and tension, or avoids stuttering by changing words and using extra sounds to get started, she or he will profit from having therapy with a specialist in stuttering. Complete blocks of speech are more common than repetitions or prolongations. Dysfluencies tend to be present in most speaking situations in such cases.

• 20- What can I do if my child stammers?

• While direct therapy with the child will be conducted by the therapist, the family has a vital role in helping the child gain the new skills, habits and attitudes:
• ·         Talk about it openly, so that your child feels comfortable about this issue. Try not to be upset or annoyed when stuttering increases. Your child is doing her best as she copes with learning many new skills all at the same time. Your patient, accepting attitude will help her.
• ·         When you and others talk to her, talk in a slow, relaxed fashion. 
• - Use small, simple sentences. Speak slowly and clearly. 
• - Give a gap of a few seconds before you answer her questions 
• - Let there be small silent gaps between your sentences when you talk to her 
• - Never interrupt her when she is saying something; let her finish, wait for 2 seconds and then ask your question. Don’t ask too many questions. 
• - Never force her to say or talk when she does not want to: never force her to recite poems for a guest; if she does it on her own, welcome it; praise her. But never force her. 
• - Never interrupt her to say: Slow down; First think what you want to say; Take a deep breath, etc. These suggestions don’t help. These only make a child feel bad and ashamed. 
• - If you don’t understand what she says, say- ‘Sorry, what did you say?’ But don’t react negatively, either in words or through facial expression and body language 
• - Encourage her to talk in a louder voice. 
• - Slow and relaxed speech can be the most effective when combined with some time each day for the child to have one parent’s undivided attention. Set aside a few minutes at a regular time when you are doing nothing else but listening to your child talk about whatever is on her mind. 
• - Increase the situations in which your child is most fluent. If your child is more fluent during bedtime stories, extend this time by reading one more book at bedtime or provide other reading opportunities throughout the day. Success in one situation builds confidence and leads to success in more situations. 
• - Do not encourage your child to use ‘tricks’, such as substituting words or tapping a foot, to help her or him get through a moment of stuttering. These tricks do not really help and eventually become part of the stuttering pattern. In the long run, they can make the stuttering more conspicuous. 
• - Do not let teasing from siblings or friends go unrecognized. Take siblings/friends out of sight and sound of the dysfluent child and talk to them.
• ·         Every child excels at something or the other; Find out and praise her or his achievements in those fields. Help him to develop a strong and positive self image, but remember to keep the praise realistic and objective.
• ·         To help the child gain confidence, encourage her to excel at some hobby: painting, sketching, singing, playing some musical instrument, outdoor games, drama, etc.
• ·         An intelligent mind helps a PWS greatly by helping him to understand what is happening inside and outside; it helps him to acquire and master those small psychological / language skills which facilitate communication in spite of stammering. So, pay attention to his intellectual development.
• ·         Talk to his teachers (or principal) and explain to them that they must not give any negative comments to the child. That they must ensure that she is not bullied / harassed in the class room by other children. If some children do that, explain to them that the child is doing her best not to stammer, and that their mocking only makes the situation worse.
• ·         In the home, try to create an open atmosphere where the child can freely talk about his difficulty with talking. If you or other family members show your distress, pain or irritation when he stammers, the child will develop feelings of shame which might affect his personality.

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• 21. I am a PWS. What can I do?

• Speech therapy is not affordable for everyone, nor is it available everywhere in India. But it does help. So if you can, go for professional help. But many PWS may not be able to do so. Here is what they can do on their own and with some help from family and friends:
• 1. Start talking about the problem with close friends or family members; this reduces the emotional isolation we develop over years.
• 2. Prepare well for formal presentations - use PowerPoint if appropriate (or other AV aids).
• 3. Consciously plan and place thoughtful silences in your speech; use these silences to breathe deeply. It relieves stress and tension in speech muscles. Make your presentation or discussion participatory: ask questions and listen to others when they talk.
• 4. Smile whenever appropriate, while talking. Smile reduces your tension and the chances of stumbling over words also goes down.
• 5. Practice deep abdominal breathing and other relaxation exercises at frequent intervals during the day. While talking, remind yourself to switch into this kind of breathing instead of holding the breath unconsciously.
• 6. Volunteer to serve someone needing help in the neighborhood for example, a person with paraplegia. This takes your mind away from your own problem and generates good vibrations.
• 7. When sub/unconsciously, you talk to yourself- what kind of things do you say to yourself? PWS often acquire critical attitudes of the world around them and judge themselves harshly for every little failure or setback. The use of positive affirmations, religion, yoga, meditation, etc can help us change our self perception and attitude towards life.
• 8. Join a self help group. Start one if there are none in your neighborhood. A self help group can start with even two PWS. For ideas about how to run a self help group, return to this blog or get in touch with us;
• There are many specific skills (like eye contact, slow onsets etc) to be acquired by constant practice and by developing greater insight into and awareness about what we do when we stammer. Which muscles tense up? Do we hold our breath or try to force it out against a closed throat? What happens before and after? This awareness helps us to deal with these, one at a time and over a long period.
• Above all, do you have the will to change yourself? It is a long process with many ups and downs, but finally a very rewarding journey

23-How long does it take to recover or be fluent?
To attain apparent fluency it does not take much time, maybe 2 months or so if regular therapy is undertaken. To maintain the fluent stage may vary from person to person depending upon the psychological pressure and the ability to take help from the environment for working on specific speech targets. If the stutterer is going to change radically his accustomed manner of stuttering, he must work persistently and diligently over a long period of time. The adult stutterer enters therapy. The first thing that he must understand is that stuttering as it is now was acquired over a period of time and that change is a Process which will be gradual and not sudden. I state confidently that continued speech therapy can bring a radical change in the person.
24-What are these 'feared situations'?
Actually, all persons who stammer have periods of fluency when they are emotionally relaxed but revert back to dysfluent speech under stress. Answering the roll call in class, speaking on the telephone, talking to someone in authority, speaking in a group, attending a job interview, etc. are some such pressure situations which might cause an increase in stammering behaviour.
18-If science is so advanced then why is there no medicine to cure stuttering?
Since there is nothing physically wrong with the speech mechanism, all the so called medicines are 'placebos', which means that they have no direct bearing on the speech problem, but the stammerer 'thinks' that they work. Such medicines do not break the abnormal speaking habit. In fact, it can corrode the person's faith in an ultimate recovery
25-So is stammering a psychological condition?
Frequently repeated, experiences of stammering arouse fear in the mind of the child who stammers. With growing years, these fears keep snowballing until the person who stammers begins to experience tremendous frustration, anxiety, shame, embarrassment, even guilt every time he opens his mouth to speak. He begins to recoil from speaking. The smirks on the faces of his listeners which his speech sometimes elicits, do nothing to help his self confidence. In every other respect, except speaking ability, the person who stammers is a completely normal human being, as good or bad as the rest of us. In fact most persons who stammer are sensitive and intelligent people.So the psychological repercussions of his stammering can very well keep the problem alive by catching him in a vicious circle. The more he is afraid, the more he stammers and that in turn increases his fear of speech. Any treatment-plan must consider this aspect carefully.
26-Isn't there any medicine for stammering?
Speech is one of our body's strongest habits and stammered speech is also a habit. Stammering is not a disease and therefore, it cannot be treated through medicines. The stammering child or adult has to be helped to develop a new, more fluent manner of speech through an intensive re-orientation program which focuses on modifying his physical manner of talking as well as changing his mental attitude towards the problem. With the greater sense of emotional and intellectual balance that he gains, the person who stammers finds his attempts to develop speech getting successful results.In their desperate search for fluency, many in India subject themselves to a myriad of so-called treatments ranging from swallowing vile concoctions to allowing themselves to be pierced with needles and cut with knives. Actually, such treatments hold no relevance to the problem of stammering and are only placebos which cause greater frustration in the long run by corroding the sufferer's faith in a real and long-lasting cure.
27-Do tranquilizers help?
Some psychiatrists might prescribe tranquilizers in the belief that relieving stress would help speech fluency. Such drugs usually complicate, rather than resolve the issue and are strongly de-recommended for the treatment of stammering by most speech pathologists.Dr. Peter Rosenberger, M.D., Director, Learning Disorders Unit at Harvard Medical School, Boston says "Since the increase in stammering during anxiety is a common experience, it might be assumed that drugs that relieve anxiety would be beneficial. However, minor tranquilizers have been tried many times without success".
22- How long does it take to recover or be fluent?
To attain apparent fluency it does not take much time, maybe 2 months or so if regular therapy is undertaken. To maintain the fluent stage may vary from person to person depending upon the psychological pressure and the ability to take help from the environment for working on specific speech targets. If the stutterer is going to change radically his accustomed manner of stuttering, he must work persistently and diligently over a long period of time. The adult stutterer enters therapy. The first thing that he must understand is that stuttering as it is now was acquired over a period of time and that change is a Process which will be gradual and not sudden. I state confidently that continued speech therapy can bring a radical change in the person.
28-So what is the treatment that works?
In the final analysis, stammering can be overcome if the sufferer seeks scientific, professional guidance and is ready to work towards achieving speech fluency through regular practice of therapeutic techniques. It certainly cannot disappear by ingesting some magic potent!
29- think my child is stuttering, What should I do. ?
Many children between the ages of 2 and 4 years go through a stage when they seem to stutter. This disfluent speech is very disturbing to parents. Most children will become fluent as they get older and their language skills improve. Disfluent speech is higher in the pre school years when the child is learning to express new and abstract concepts.
30-Children who Stammer?
When their 3 to 5 year old child begins to hesitate/stammer or stutter, parents naturally become worried about this and may unknowingly handle the problem incorrectly resulting in increasing rather than decreasing the stammering. Here is a typical case-history: ""Mu..mmm..mum..mummy! We wa.wa.wa..won the mmm..mmmatch!" Mrs. Sharma's body tenses up whenever she hears her 10-year old son stammering. She becomes desperate herself, when Amit gets stuck on a word and struggles so hard to speak it out. His young-er brother speaks absolutely normally which makes it even more difficult for Amit. Mrs. Sharma : "Sometimes, a class-mate might tease him and that makes Amit feel as if he is abnormal. Last year he used to come home crying. He speaks quite well with everyone at home or with some of his friends. He has no difficulty when he sings or recites from memory. But when the teacher asks him to read in class, he breaks down into severe stammering. The problem is especially noticeable when he is excited or angry. Talking on the telephone is also difficult for Amit. From the time he was 4 years old and had started stammering, we had mentioned it to our pediatrician but he advised us not to worry because it would disappear when Amit reached 6 years of age. Now, 4 years later, the problem is in fact increasing. I feel helpless." - Mrs. Sharma, New Delhi.".Children who have a case background history similar to Amit's need to be handled with special gentleness and support from parents. Feeling increasingly concerned about their child's speech problem, parents employ a variety of corrective methods ranging from scolding or even beating the child (in extreme cases) to frequently correcting him or promising him rewards if he is fluent to getting angry or upset with him. All these techniques only indicate the degree of the parent's worry and need to be changed. Continued parental counselling is provided. This forms half of the therapy plan. Alongside, the child is given certain simple therapy practices to help him time his speech better and to develop habits of easier breathing patterns.
31-How do you treat children/adults with unclear speech?
If a child cannot pronounce the Ka or Ga sounds or when someone cannot say the R sound correctly?The tongue is a pure muscle and speech clarity depends upon the placement of the tongue as it contacts the teeth or lips to form most speech sounds. Sometimes a small surgical procedure is needed to release a tied tongue. This 15-minute surgery is done by a qualified plastic surgeon in satna. Dr. Arun Nayak, M.S., M.Ch.So our goal is to first identify sounds which come out unclear in spontaneous speech, then grade them according to complexity and start practicing the sound repeatedly once it is learnt.

32-How do you treat children/adults with unclear speech?

If a child cannot pronounce the Ka or Ga sounds or when someone cannot say the R sound correctly?The tongue is a pure muscle and speech clarity depends upon the placement of the tongue as it contacts the teeth or lips to form most speech sounds. Sometimes a small surgical procedure is needed to release a tied tongue.
27-How should non-stammerers (i.e. normally fluent speakers) react when they encounter a person who stammers?
In India where even today, stammering is considered funny; where the comedian in our films still stammers in search of cheap laughs, one of the primary goals of The Speech Foundation is to disseminate correct information about this baffling speech condition and suggest ways to overcome it.Another one of its goals is to suggest how non-stammerers should react when they encounter a person who stammers.Many of us might experience a feeling of embarrassment when we converse with persons who stammer; some of us look away while others go ahead to complete their sentences for them. In talking with a person who stammers, the following hints might be of help:1. Listen to what is said, not how it is said.2. Be patient and don't hurry the person talking.3. Try to maintain natural eye contact.4. Simplistic advice ("breathe properly", "don't worry", "don't be afraid", etc.) though well- meant is not always helpful.5. Persons who stammer have difficulty when talking but don't assume they are stupid or confused about what they are saying.6. Many persons who stammer have difficulty when they speak on the telephone. Please do not hang up if the caller is taking longer than usual or if he is silent for a while.7. Persons who stammer usually try and hide their speech problem from their listeners. This attempt at camouflage is counter-productive because it only acts as psychological 'fuel' for even more speech-blocks.8. If the person who stammers is open about his speech difficulty, he experiences lesser stress and is able to speak with greater control.

33 What shall I do when I am talking to a PWS?

• ·         Listen to the content of the message rather than to how the message is coming out.
• ·         Keep natural eye contact with the person to show that you are listening and are interested in their message. "Natural" does not mean staring at the person; nor does it mean avoiding looking at the person. Pay attention to how often and for how long you usually look at another speaker and then try that with the person who stutters. Try not to look embarrassed or alarmed. Just wait patiently and naturally until the person is finished.
• ·         Let your posture, your facial expressions, your manner, and your voice show that you are listening and are interested and that you are not embarrassed.
• ·         You might be tempted to finish sentences or fill in words for the person. Unless you know the person well and have his or her permission, please do not do this. Your action could be taken as demeaning. And, of course, if you guess the wrong word, the difficulties multiply.
• ·         The person's stuttering sometimes makes it harder to understand what he or she is saying. If you do not understand what is said to you, do not be afraid to say, "I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you just said." No matter how much of a struggle it was for them to say it, this is preferable to your pretending you understood, or guessing what his or her communication was.
• ·         Refrain from making remarks like: "Slow down," "Take a deep breath," or "Relax." Such simplistic advice can be felt as patronizing and is not constructive.
• ·         Instead of telling the person to slow down, try using a slower, more relaxed speaking rate yourself. This may help relieve the feeling of time pressure and it will show them that you have time to talk.
• ·         Treat the person who stutters with the same level of dignity and respect as you treat other people.
• ·         Be aware that people who stutter usually have more trouble controlling their speech on the telephone. Saying "Hello," in particular, often presents a special problem for us. Please be extra patient in this situation.
• ·         People sometimes ask if they should ask the person questions about his or her stuttering. This is something we must leave to your judgment. But surely, stuttering should not be a taboo subject. If you have a question about it, the person will probably appreciate your interest. It is to your mutual benefit that it be talked about openly. You should be prepared that some people who stutter will be sensitive about it, but if you follow the rules of common courtesy, you should be fine.

34. I am a teacher. What can I do to help?

1. 1.      Meet with the child's parents before school begins to learn about their concerns and expectations.
2. 2.      Encourage positive communication skills in the classroom: do not interrupt someone when they are talking, talk for, or finish thoughts and statements for anyone else.
3. 3.      Avoid, as much as possible, treating the child with dysfluencies differently from others in the classroom. It is important that the child does not feel any differently than the other children by receiving "special treatment." The child who stutters should be held to the same academic and social standards as the other children in the classroom.
4. 4.      Commend the child when he or she participates in classroom discussions. Praise what they say, not how they say it.
5. 5.      If the child is teased by classmates, make sure to talk to the child first before confronting the teasers. Listen to what the child has to say, how he or she is feeling. If the child agrees that you speak to the teasers, pull them aside, away from the child, and tell them why their behavior is inappropriate.
6. 6.      If appropriate, it may benefit the child if you talk to the class about stuttering. It is important to get permission from the child. You may even help the child present a science project on stammering or how a DAF device helps PWS. (Read on for explanation of DAF under question no. 12)
7. 7.      Do not call on students in a specific order. People who stutter build up tension and anxiety when they know their turn is coming because they anticipate that they will stutter. It is best to call on the child early on in the process.
8. 8.      For oral presentations, encourage the child to practice the oral presentation requirements at home. It may even be helpful for the child to practice in the classroom to relieve some anxiety. Be sure to ask the child about how they feel about doing an oral presentation and what could be done to make it a little less frightening.
9. 9.      Most children who stutter are fluent when reading in unison with someone else. Rather than not calling on the child who stutters, let him have his turn with one of the other children. Let the whole class read in pairs sometimes so that the child who stutters doesn’t feel “special.” Gradually he may become more confident and be able to manage reading out loud on his own.

35 I am a PWS. What can I do?

Speech therapy is not affordable for everyone, nor is it available everywhere in India. But it does help. So if you can, go for professional help. But many PWS may not be able to do so. Here is what they can do on their own and with some help from family and friends:

1. Start talking about the problem with close friends or family members; this reduces the emotional isolation we develop over years.

2. Prepare well for formal presentations - use PowerPoint if appropriate (or other AV aids).

3. Consciously plan and place thoughtful silences in your speech; use these silences to breathe deeply. It relieves stress and tension in speech muscles. Make your presentation or discussion participatory: ask questions and listen to others when they talk.

4. Smile whenever appropriate, while talking. Smile reduces your tension and the chances of stumbling over words also goes down.

5. Practice deep abdominal breathing and other relaxation exercises at frequent intervals during the day. While talking, remind yourself to switch into this kind of breathing instead of holding the breath unconsciously.

6. Volunteer to serve someone needing help in the neighborhood for example, a person with paraplegia. This takes your mind away from your own problem and generates good vibrations.

7. When sub/unconsciously, you talk to yourself- what kind of things do you say to yourself? PWS often acquire critical attitudes of the world around them and judge themselves harshly for every little failure or setback. The use of positive affirmations, religion, yoga, meditation, etc can help us change our self perception and attitude towards life.

There are many specific skills (like eye contact, slow onsets etc) to be acquired by constant practice and by developing greater insight into and awareness about what we do when we stammer. Which muscles tense up? Do we hold our breath or try to force it out against a closed throat? What happens before and after? This awareness helps us to deal with these, one at a time and over a long period.

Above all, do you have the will to change yourself? It is a long process with many ups and downs, but finally a very rewarding 31. How many people stammer in India?

Over all, about 1% adults are expected to be PWS. They can be found in any caste, community, ethnic group or region. Therefore their number in India would be at least one crore (i.e. ten million). Some Indian therapists claim that their number could even be more- almost 3%. But due to cultural stigma and social attitudes, they may neither seek help nor accept their problem openly. It is more common among men than women by 4 to 1. About half of PWS may have a close relative with the same disorder.

Drugs (like Pogoclone) have shown some promise but it is too early to recommend its general use. Among the electronic aids, Delayed Auditory Feedback (DAF) and Frequency shifted auditory Feedback (FAF) machines have been shown to help. These machines look like a hearing aid and play back the sound of our own voice in the ear with a delay of 40-100 microseconds. This is based on ‘choral effect’: PWS stammer less when speaking in unison with others. It also slows down the speech. Similar software can be used with some cellphones; it works even when we are not talking on the phone. But these technological interventions do not offer a ‘cure’ and beneficial effect tends to wear off after some months in some cases. As a part of wider exploration, it should be given a try. It could also be used as an adjunct to speech therapy.