Stuttering is one of the most misunderstood, underappreciated and underestimated speech disorders. Part of the reason for this is the huge degree of variation of stuttering from one stutterer to the next. Some children go through a “developmental” period of stuttering during adolescence that dissipates several months to several years after onset, with usually no long-term effects to the child’s speech or quality of life.  While some children who stutter experience this dissipation during adolescence, others do not – and these children can continue to stutter through elementary school, the teenage years, adulthood, and even for the rest of their lives. That doesn’t mean they will, necessarily; it does mean, however, that the possibility is there.
​
The techniques I use and teach center around a specific premise:
 
The pathology of stuttering has to do with a locking of two tiny muscles known as the vocal folds, commonly known as the vocal cords; they’re two little muscles inside the larynx which is inside the throat that have to vibrate over a hundred times per second in order to produce all of the vowel sounds and half of the consonants in English, or 75% of all the sounds)
 
Stuttering (actual stuttering, e.g., the pushing, the blocking, the straining, the gasping for breath, the audible and visual components everyone hears and sees, etc.) is a learned habit or behavior developed in childhood during instances when the vocal cords were locking and making it difficult for the child to speak. And just like with anything that appears or seems “stuck” or “locked,” our first instinct is, usually, to push harder. That is, literally, what stuttering is: attempting to push out the sounds that have, mysteriously and most frustratingly and painfully, become “stuck” or “locked” and unable to be spoken at that particular moment in time; they have become “stuck” or “locked” because, unbeknownst to anyone including the speaker him/herself, the vocal cords are locking and thus unable to vibrate which means sound cannot be produced (75% of them: all the vowels and half of the consonants).
​
WORDS ARE WINGS® targets the facilitation and sustaining of functional vocal cord vibration during instances in which they’re tensing and subsequently locking (the pathology of stuttering) and resulting in repeated attempts to push the sounds out (the actual stuttering) as well as sustaining functional vocal cord vibration long-term through the (re)learning of various breathing and speech mechanics over time.
 
WORDS ARE WINGS® STUTTERING SOLUTIONS™ is a long-term approach to learning how to control the stuttering and speak fluently; it is not a quick-fix remedy.
​​
The techniques are presented, learned and practiced within the context of two specifically established premises:
​
It's not that the stutterer doesn’t know what it is he or she wants to say, but rather, it’s that they physically (think “mechanically”) cannot say what they want to say at that particular moment in time (because their vocal cords are locking).
 
The locking of the vocal cords is the pathology of stuttering; the actual stuttering is a learned behavior of attempting to literally push the sounds/words out during instances in which the vocal cords are locking (that’s what gives stuttering its distinctive audible and visual “look” and repetitive audible component which is very different from natural dysfluencies everyone experiences once in a while).  If this continues over time (e.g., if weeks and/or months turns into years) quality of life can begin to become affected as the stuttering (the pushing during instances of locked vocal cords) remains or becomes worse.

​

Like any unwanted habit or behavior, if left unchecked or unaddressed it cannot be transitioned to a new behavior or reaction. Identically, if the habit or behavior of attempting to push sounds out (stuttering) during instances of locking vocal cords (the pathology) continues and becomes exacerbated over time it can reach the point where immediately thinking to push (thus resulting in stuttering) becomes the autopilot, instinctive response during instances of locking vocal cords which the speaker can feel happening in the throat.
​
Quality of life is attainable because learning how to control the locking of the vocal cords and subsequently speak fluently is absolutely possible through learning how to facilitate and maintain functional vocal cord vibration during instances in which they’re locking. If the vocal cords aren’t locking it means they’re able to vibrate; if they’re able to vibrate fluent speech will come out because there’s nothing locking which means there’s no reason to push as sounds will come out fluently and uninterruptedly.
​
If you or your child stutters, or if someone you know stutters and wants help no matter their age, please contact WORDS ARE WINGS® to schedule a free consultation.

It is never too early to schedule a consultation to determine whether your child’s stuttering is developmental in nature or whether some sort of proactive approach should be tried.

It is never too late to achieve fluency: I, myself, didn’t say my own name fluently (first and last, together) without stuttering until I was 25 years old, and I didn’t order my own food in a restaurant – exactly what I wanted, how I wanted it prepared, what I wanted along with it, and with confidence instead of fear because of my fluency techniques – until I was almost 29.

At 52, I still practice and use my techniques daily.
​
“Fluency Exists on the Breath of Hope.”
- Andrew Miceli, M.A., CCC-SLP