Customer Reviews

Stutter Control Drill: Mastering Elements of Fluent Speech

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

While the recommended exercise probably won't hurt anyone, the author's superficial and misleading explanation of stuttering very well might. This pamphlet is based on the old saw that people stutter simply because they think faster than they talk. It totally ignores the complexity of stuttering and the vast research that has been done on the subject. It shows no understanding of the stuttering experience. Readers should not get their hopes up.

According to the author, stuttering is due to the fact that the people with stutter did not think first before speaking. If they think first about what they wanted to speak then they won't stutter. This is an out of date idea. The Stutter Control Drill ask us to see a letter/numeral, saying it in your mind, saying it aloud and typing it on a typewriter or computer keyboard is a ridiculous idea of mastering the elements of fluent speech. The author should back his claims or withdraw this booklet from the market. He is deceiving and misleading people with stutter for profit.

This item is a PAMPHLET, which is to say that it is a few pieces of paper stapled together. It is not what most people would identify as a paperback. While "Content is King," in this case, the full contents of this pamphlet could probably be made into a website in about an hour (without scanning). It is unlikely that you will be pleased with the shipping costs for what can easily be mailed to you in a regular business envelope.

I found the Stutter Control Drill by Howard Richman to be very helpful and positive. I had a mild stutter, which is now much improved. What I liked about it was that it recognised that stuttering CAN be overcome, and it provided a structured approach for doing this based on a theory of how the brain and your vocal chords work together. This theory was based what is now well established, that the sub-concious feeds on and reflects what the concious mind has received (e.g. the importance of positive self-talk). Because I already believed that you can programme your brain to think positively, transferring this principle to speech seemed obvious but I had not looked at in that light before, and it helped to break my irrational idea that I would never improve my speech.

I found "Stutter Control Drill" very helpful. It is simple, straightforward and easy to follow. Being a voiceover artist, I cannot afford to stutter. I wanted clear instructions on how not to stutter and H. Richman's book did a good job in giving me information and understanding of why people stutter and how it is correctable. I didn't want to have to mill through a lot of long drawn out technical mumbo jumbo - I wanted the information clear and concise so that I could follow the instructions and stop stuttering - I got very good advice from this book.

This book is a very practical and helpful guide to the basics of speech correction. A good beginners guide.

A blurb for this book says it's a "12-page self-help booklet that provides unconventional tools for self-improvement with stuttering". I can only commend the author and question any detractors on this matter. Just because a tool is unconventional doesn't mean it won't work. If a drill is too unconventional a tool for people to be using, they should feel free to use more conventional ones, like hammers or spanners or whatever. But I say why stop at the drill? Many stutterers may find relief in even more unconventional tools, like angle grinders or rotary hoes, and if so why shouldn't they use them? I give this book 5 stars for its fresh new perspective on the usefulness of household tools in the treatment of stuttering. Perhaps other disciplines should open themselves up to this new perspective; for example has anyone looked into the effectiveness of power-saws or rivet-guns in treating schizophrenia?