Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

Speech Impediments

09:33 / 03.02.06

I was just speaking to man on the phone who had a stammer. Not really sure of the vocabulary to use here, since I’m not sure if technically there is a difference between stuttering the first sound of the word until it comes out or one gives up, and not being able to get any sound out in the first place.

Anyway – it was slightly annoying because there was no there way to communicate there and then, and I wondered if anyone had come across this form of speech impediment or if anyone had it. I was patient and waited until he’d got his meaning over, but I didn’t know if I should re-assure him since it might have come across as patronising or simply ignorant of this condition. I thought it must be frustrating, but he might be completely at ease with it… how do people respond to stutters?

When I was young I had a pronounced lisp but after a bout of speech therapy it was no more. I was teased mercilessly at school and I was rather glad when it went. I still occasionally do it if there’s a “th” and a “s” sound close to each other in a phrase and/or I tired – and it annoys me when people comment on it. I’m not even sure why it annoys me, but it does.

So any practical advise for dealing with this kind of thing? Also any other common speech impediments out there that I’ve missed?

Whisky Priestess

11:55 / 03.02.06

Rororation - I was told (perhaps as a cruel joke) that this is the technical term for being unable to pwonounce one's "r"s - a la Jonathan Woss.

12:53 / 03.02.06

My dad had an awful speech impediment when he was younger. He couldn't pronounce any "s" sounds. To this very day, he has trouble pronouncing a series of "s" words in a row; for example, the number 66 poses quite a problem for him. Sometimes, my dad was told when he was young, one can never fully "fix" the problem, that it will stay with you for all of your life in some form or another. I'm very sympathetic to people with speech impediments because I have one slightly. I stammer a little bit, and that forces me to speak very slowly (sort of like Henry James).

13:07 / 03.02.06

So any practical advise for dealing with this kind of thing?

The trick for stammering & stuttering is apparently not to give a crap whether or not you do it.

This makes sense, since if it's caused by being nervous, then worrying about it happening will automatically cause it to happen and worsen.

I don't have a stuter though, so I can't say this from personal experience.

pointless & uncalled for

13:20 / 03.02.06

When working in call centres, speech impediments, particularly stuttering and stammering, could be tremendously frustrating because you had no visual cues to work from.

You're trained in the safe way, which is to offer no help and just wait unless specifically asked.

I was never too happy with this because it ends up leaving some callers frustrated and feeling stupid. My own rule was that I would endeavour to help from the start unless I could sense that the person didn't want to be helped. I would try to do more of the talking and provide options that it would be easier to respond to and say problems words. I would also raise the level of helping gradually to try not to overstep the mark.

Cues to look for as an indicator that the caller would like help; Apologising, pauses between attempts on problem words, heavy use of synonyms.

Cues to look for as an indicator that the caller doesn't like being helped; repeating any problem words you help them with, trying to talk faster etc.

I have no doubt that I annoyed people by helping too much and not helping enough but at the end of the day there is communication that needs to take place and that should be the focus.

If you do try to help out with problem words then don't say it in a questioning tone.

hanabius yamamura

16:48 / 03.02.06

re The trick for stammering & stuttering is apparently not to give a crap whether or not you do it.

This makes sense, since if it's caused by being nervous, then worrying about it happening will automatically cause it to happen and worsen.

... as someone who, for many years, had a fairly bad stammer - especially with words beginning with C's, G's, K's, Q's and the dreaded letter P - I have to say not giving a crap is the way forward, for me anyway.

... I very rarely stammer nowadays (unless I worry about doing it or, ironically, notice I've not done it for a while) and now talk for a living as an NHS staff trainer.

... chilling and saying 'who cares' is a definite option.

h

hanabius yamamura

16:51 / 03.02.06

... I should add that it also worked a lot better than the years of early 70s Speech Therapy which revolved around making you stand and read through passages of text until you got it 'right' ... boy, that was 'fun' ...

h