Episode #204: Could stuttering be more than a speech issue? What about the rest of your body? Dr. Greg Snyder returns to chat about some pretty cool research his lab at Ole Miss is currently conducting. We talk about stuttering in sign language, handwriting, and even touch typing! Then we talk about a remarkable app that shows promise in reducing stuttering through your smartphone’s vibrate mode. And also something about Amazon Alexa’s compatibility with stuttering.

Contact Greg before February 2017 if you’d like to participate in Greg’s research.

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Episode #203: 1) Get yourself a community. 2) Realize that people don’t care that you stutter. They like the real you! This is a tribute episode for one of my very good friends, Bob Goyetche, who suddenly passed away last week. Bob was a pioneer in podcasting and always helped others get up and running with their own podcasting. Back in 2006, Bob co-founded an awesome, close-knit community of really cool, friendly people from across Canada and the United States (including Argentina!) who shared my interest in podcasting and digital media. I am so grateful to have been and still be a part of it.

I started going to PAB, the podcasting conference that Bob had co-founded, during a particularly lonely, very shy, and very cover stuttering time in my life. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming that soon I had made many new friends. And most importantly, it was in this community where I learned the life-changing fact that people truly don’t care that I stuttered. Mind bend, I know! So in this episode, I talk about how Bob was the one who introduced me to this awesome community, his hilarious character, the community itself, and what all this has to do with getting out of your stuttering comfort zone.

…And also realizing that even people who don’t stutter can fear social and speaking situations. In fact, that’s how I learned to take further steps out of my comfort zones – seeing my new friends get up and give presentations year after year at PAB. Of course I had to give it a try, too!

Also, being a community of digital creatives, musicians, and designers, many collaborations were made over the years and a lot of it rubbed off on me. Many more steps out of my comfort zone with a little help from my friends, as the song goes. I see many parallels of this in the stuttering community, meet ups, and such so get out there and find your community!

Join me as I pay tribute to Bob and my fellow PABsters.

Links mentioned:

Episode cover art credit goes to Shane Potvin, PABster and super awesome designer.

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Episode #202: Don’t strive for complete fluency. Do the best you can do everyday. Whatever that is for you. Be it to stutter openly and freely or keep speech tools in practice. Be comfortable in your own skin. Part of our stuttering journey usually involves the act of practice at one point or another. On this episode, I chat with David Stones, poet, spoken word artist, CEO, and co-organizer of the CSA one-day stuttering conference which took place on October 22, 2016 (yup, International Stuttering Awareness Day!).

David led a workshop where he asked everyone to share their methods in whatever their speech goals happen to be. David then compiled everything together into three free PDFs downloads available on the CSA website under Towards Improved Speech Fluency.

David and I chat about his favourite bits from the materials along with our favourite moments of the CSA conference, the brilliant keynote given by Geoff Regan (speaker of the House of Commons), and we lament the end of British Columbia Association for People Who Stutter (BCAPS).

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Episode #201: I had an awesome time at the Nordic Stuttering Seminar which took place in Hämeelinna, Finland with an additional trip to Tallinn, Estonia. On this episode, I share my experiences at my first Nordic seminar as I illustrate the benefits of hanging out with others who stutter. It’s true what the National Stuttering Association’s motto says — if you stutter, you’re not alone! I also talk about a third trip I made right after the conclusion of the Nordic Stuttering Seminar. My trip to Iceland!

Links mentioned in this episode:

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Episode #200! What a great way to celebrate this milestone: with stutterers from all over the world! Join me at the World Congress for People Who Stutter/National Stuttering Association joint conference which took place in Atlanta, U.S.A. There are a lot of stories from people who stutter in this episode! I speak with old and new friends including Kylie Simmons who was recently detained at the Atlanta airport due to ignorance towards her stuttering; learn about the famous names in the dawn of stuttering research and therapy by Frederick Pemberton Murray, author of A Stutterer’s Story; hear from first timers, “internationals”; someone who told a potential employer that she would do a better job than the other candidates because she stutters – and got the job!; porky pig tattoos; cultural attitudes towards stuttering; and more!

Links mentioned in this episode:

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Episode #199: Join me on my noisy walk to the train station on my way to work as I encourage the idea of focussing on our strengths instead of comparing ourselves to others in a self-defeating way. It can be tough to resist comparing ourselves to others. I have that trouble, too. We live in a society that demands impossible perfection. Focussing on the qualities that we don’t have will only make us feel worse. Instead, we should focus on our strengths. After all, everyone is made to be different. Everyone has both strengths and weaknesses. And everyone has a particular purpose in life. So why focus on anything else?

Of course, we are only human. So if there’s anything that you envy in someone else, keep in mind that you have strengths they may not have. And if you wish you had a particular strength they have, why see them as a role model and learn how to achieve the same thing?

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Episode #198: It’s not how you say something, it’s what you say that’s important! Join me and my friend Sam on this episode as we chat about this fact. And trek through beautiful Algonquin Park, Canada’s largest and oldest provincial park.

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Episode #197: There’s a whole lot more to us than our stutter! This is the message, Anita Blom, former Stutter Social host, gives in this episode. Continuing my Stutter Social interview series, Anita shares her stuttering survival and resilience tips which includes, talking about your stutter, meeting other stutterers, not comparing yourself to others, and everything is a life lesson.

The poem mentioned on this episode:

Other people are always doing better

Other people live strong and proficient lives

Nobody has such problems as I have

To me you’re one of the others

Links mentioned on this episode:

The Stutter Social Host Interview Series

More stuttering survival tips in the Stuttering is Cool book!

Available in print and digital.

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Episode #196: Canned material which you can use! If you’re having trouble knowing what to say to various reactions to your stuttering, then this episode will surely help! I sometimes still get caught off guard not knowing how to react. But it’s another opportunity to assess, learn, and become more prepared for next time.

This episode is brought to you by the Stuttering is Cool book! Full of comics and survival tips to get you through dating, job interviews, and dumb questions like ‘Did you forget your name?’.

I remember back in the early years about 10 years ago now, with each speaking situation I was learning how to become comfortable with my stuttering and learning how to stutter openly, how to mention and educate about my stuttering, as I encountered one speaking situation after another. For the most part, I’d be thrown off guard by whatever unforeseen thing that would end up happening during a speaking situation.

You can go order coffee 10 times and each one of those times would have a different setting. Be it the barista laughing at you, or the barista smiles and patiently waits for your order, perhaps you’re the only one in line, or there’s a long line of other customers behind you, or you’re having a bad day, or it’s the barista’s first day, anything. And each setting would require its own unique response.

As I began my journey in learning how not to let my stuttering out in these speaking situations, for the most part, I found myself being caught off guard and not knowing what to say. And for the most part, I’d end up either avoiding or switching words or having an embarrassing moment only to beat myself up over it later. But with more exposure and experience, through trial and error, assessing what kind of replies worked or didn’t work, I grew more confident in all speaking situations as I was simply more used to it.

I was more prepared with what kind of replies worked for me. If it wasn’t for the rocky beginning, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Stuttering doesn’t bother me in job interviews.

Just like picking up a sport, or becoming an expert in something, you gotta practice. You gotta do things over and over, and assess, try again and again until you’ve got the hang of it. Every speaking situation is truly different. I still get caught off guard sometimes and not knowing how to react. But it’s another opportunity to assess and be even more prepared for next time.

And remember, you’re not alone. Thanks to the Internet, there are stuttering forums all over the place With others that stutter and understand exactly what you’re going through. You can share each other’s experiences, tips and even suggest what to say in a variety of speaking situations.

On this episode, my friends and I share our own canned material to give you an idea of what you could say. Don’t memorize and recite them word for word. Be yourself and let your true personality shine. Edit and reword as you see fit. And don’t beat yourself over any rocky encounters. You’re only human and you need these rocky encounters in order to learn.We learn through suffering. We learn through first hand experience. Then let us know how things went.

Remember, you’re not alone in this. There are millions of stutterers on the Internet waiting to get to know you!

Think of all this as a workout. Just as you would build your muscles in the gym, you will build your stuttering resilience, mental toughness, and mindfulness. You will become a confident badass that everyone will see in a positive light. And opportunities will open up for you. But you have to stick with it, and embrace the suck, and learn from the suck,

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Episode #195: Whether you’re keeping your speech tools in practice or letting yourself stutter openly, living with stuttering requires building up and keeping mental toughness. In this episode, I share my take on a superb article I stumbled upon about how mental toughness training is beneficial in all areas of our lives. Including dealing with the embarrassing moments a communication disorder can create.

After all, not everyone understands or knows what stuttering is when they see it. We still need to raise awareness:

More Superhero themed Franky Banky comics!

The article I talk about is The Psychology of Strength: Incorporating Mental Toughness Training by Jackson Yee.

More articles about mental toughness:

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