A Blast from The Past

The other day I received an e mail from a man I had worked with 40 years ago. He found me on the internet and told me that one of the most powerful things he learned as a high school student who stuttered was the importance of Eye Contact. We had worked diligently on eye contact, pausing and speech rate while he was in high school.

One of the Goals of Therapy

He was told to always look directly at the person with whom he was speaking and then to use the new speech rate and pausing when anticipating a block.

What he told Me

“You told me to make eye contact. At first it was terrifying. After YEARS of doing eye contact it became first nature to me. I am now totally free of dysfluencies, and hesitations.”

Maintaining eye contact is a very powerful tool in conversational talking. It is difficult to look people in the eye when one has difficulty speaking, and as one learns to do it better with speech therapy, the fear is addressed and usually lessens with practice.

We often have difficulty with any task that has fear attached to it. Once fear is lifted, performance often improves. 
E Mail: markittleman@teachingoftalking.com 

Website: teachingoftalking.com for more information about speaking and improvement of talking. Please visit our website and/or drop me an e mail!

Thanks for being a loyal email subscriber. We appreciate hearing from you. Let us know if you ever have any questions.

Moshe Mark Ittleman, M.S., CCC/SLP