Stuttering Survey

[Explorer]

I searched the forums to see if this has been done before but it appears that it hasn't.

I have been stammering on and off since the age of eleven years. For a while I seem to get over it following marriage, and now in my latter working years, it has returned with a vengeance.

I would like to establish if possible, albeit in a non-scientific way, a profile of as many members on this board as possible, of basic information regarding the history and development of their stammer, and mental disposition, causes and effects etc.. In doing so I am trying to find out if there are common traits that we have had since childhood and adolescence that has remained with us into maturity.

My choice of questions are purely based on my own experience and history, but it has to start from somewhere.

Here are my questions to you, and I am assuming you are still a stammerer:

1. How old were you when you started full blown stammering?

2. Were you as a child a)introverted or b)extroverted, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

3. Were you as a child a)confident or b)not confident, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

4. Did you mix and socialise a)easily or b) not easily, or c) somewhere in between, with other children before you stammered?

5. Did your stammer a) improve or b) got worse, or c) stayed the same, into adolescence?

6. Have you ever suffered from unreasonable anxiety or panic attacks, not connected with any stammering issue?

7. Do you stammer a)less or b)more or c) about the same) :

a) After significant alcohol intake concurrently?
b) After significant alcohol the next day?
c) With your family?
d) With your job and work colleagues and customers/clients
e) On holiday
f) On the telephone to your work contacts
g) On the telephone with you close family and friends

8. What type of stammerer are you:

a) A closet stammer (You don't overtly stammer but use word substituition and other strategies)?
b) You stammer openly on words that you want and choose to use.

9. Loud background noise makes your stammer:

a)Worse
b) Better
c) No difference

10. In your opinion, does having a healthy and regular sex life(For the over 16s only):

a) Improve your stammer
b) Makes it worse
c) No different

This list is not exhaustive, but I think 10 questions are sufficient to get a good response.

At the end of the survey, which will be the point when there are no more contributions after a few days, I suggest that we do a kind of amateur analysis on the results and see if there are any common patterns emerging.

I would appreciate that we refrain from commenting until all the feedback has been collated (which I am happy to do) and take it from there. If there are only a few responses, then the value of this will be vastly diminished, so I hope all will join in in the interests of making some sense of our curse.

In the spirit in which I mean to go on, here is my own profile for starters. Enjoy and contribute at will!

Explorer Profile Answers:

1. 11 years
2. a)
3. b)
4. c)
5. a)
6. Yes
7. a) less
b) more
c) less
d) more
f) more
g) about the same
8. a)
9. a)
10.a)

[JDRow]

1. How old were you when you started full blown stammering?
3 or 4

2. Were you as a child a)introverted or b)extroverted, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?
I'm not really sure. I was a shy kid, but I don't remember if I was at 3 or 4.

3. Were you as a child a)confident or b)not confident, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?
I don't remember.

4. Did you mix and socialise a)easily or b) not easily, or c) somewhere in between, with other children before you stammered?
Again, I don't remember. Sorry for the not helpful answers.

5. Did your stammer a) improve or b) got worse, or c) stayed the same, into adolescence?
Got worse.

6. Have you ever suffered from unreasonable anxiety or panic attacks, not connected with any stammering issue?
I've had anxiety issues, but they've been related to other things. I'm not sure if they'd be considered unreasonable or not.

7. Do you stammer a)less or b)more or c) about the same) :

a) After significant alcohol intake concurrently? Not really sure, I don't drink much.
b) After significant alcohol the next day? Not sure.
c) With your family? Depends on who. More with some family members, less with others.
d) With your job and work colleagues and customers/clients About the same
e) On holiday About the same
f) On the telephone to your work contacts n/a
g) On the telephone with you close family and friends Not quite up to talking on the phone.

8. What type of stammerer are you:

a) A closet stammer (You don't overtly stammer but use word substituition and other strategies)?
b) You stammer openly on words that you want and choose to use.
Not either, really. I do stutter overtly but I generally try to hide it. I just suck at hiding it.

9. Loud background noise makes your stammer:
No difference, I think.

10. In your opinion, does having a healthy and regular sex life(For the over 16s only):
I'm going to leave this one blank.

[Requiem]

1. How old were you when you started full blown stammering?

I was 8.

2. Were you as a child a)introverted or b)extroverted, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

I was introverted.

3. Were you as a child a)confident or b)not confident, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

Not Confiedent.

4. Did you mix and socialise a)easily or b) not easily, or c) somewhere in between, with other children before you stammered?

Not easily.

5. Did your stammer a) improve or b) got worse, or c) stayed the same, into adolescence?

It got worse but it's now improving.



6. Have you ever suffered from unreasonable anxiety or panic attacks, not connected with any stammering issue?

I had a bad experience when I was at school which was the reason for my stammering.


7. Do you stammer a)less or b)more or c) about the same) :

a) After significant alcohol intake concurrently? I don't drink.
b) After significant alcohol the next day? Same as above.
c) With your family? Less.
d) With your job and work colleagues and customers/clients? Depends on the circumstances.
e) On holiday? More. Because I speak a different language where I go to.
f) On the telephone to your work contacts? More.
g) On the telephone with you close family and friends? More.

8. What type of stammerer are you:

a) A closet stammer (You don't overtly stammer but use word substituition and other strategies)?
b) You stammer openly on words that you want and choose to use.

A bit of both.

9. Loud background noise makes your stammer:

a)Worse
b) Better
c) No difference

No difference at all.

10. In your opinion, does having a healthy and regular sex life(For the over 16s only):

a) Improve your stammer
b) Makes it worse
c) No different

It makes no difference. I wouldn't know yet anyway but I don't think it's linked.

[Box of Clocks]

1. How old were you when you started full blown stammering?

8

2. Were you as a child a)introverted or b)extroverted, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

Introverted (a)

3. Were you as a child a)confident or b)not confident, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

Not confident (b)

4. Did you mix and socialise a)easily or b) not easily, or c) somewhere in between, with other children before you stammered?

Not easily (b)

5. Did your stammer a) improve or b) got worse, or c) stayed the same, into adolescence?

Got worse (b)

6. Have you ever suffered from unreasonable anxiety or panic attacks, not connected with any stammering issue?

No

7. Do you stammer a)less or b)more or c) about the same) :

a) After significant alcohol intake concurrently?

I don't drink alcohol

b) After significant alcohol the next day?

See above.

c) With your family?

Less (a)


d) With your job and work colleagues and customers/clients

About the same (c)

e) On holiday

I don't really go on holiday, at least not in recent times.

f) On the telephone to your work contacts

More (b)

g) On the telephone with you close family and friends

About the same (c)

8. What type of stammerer are you:

a) A closet stammer (You don't overtly stammer but use word substituition and other strategies)?
b) You stammer openly on words that you want and choose to use.

A closet stammerer (a)

9. Do loud background noise makes your stammer:

No real difference although I do have a quiet voice so people can't hear me very well if there is a lot of background noise.

10. In your opinion, does having a healthy and regular sex life(For the over 16s only):

I can't really answer this at the moment.

[happy7117]

1. How old were you when you started full blown stammering?

8

2. Were you as a child a)introverted or b)extroverted, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

Introverted (a)

3. Were you as a child a)confident or b)not confident, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

Not confident (b)

4. Did you mix and socialise a)easily or b) not easily, or c) somewhere in between, with other children before you stammered?

Not easily (b)

5. Did your stammer a) improve or b) got worse, or c) stayed the same, into adolescence?

Got worse (b)

6. Have you ever suffered from unreasonable anxiety or panic attacks, not connected with any stammering issue?

No

7. Do you stammer a)less or b)more or c) about the same) :

a) After significant alcohol intake concurrently?

I don't drink alcohol

b) After significant alcohol the next day?

See above.

c) With your family?

Less (a)


d) With your job and work colleagues and customers/clients

About the same (c)

e) On holiday

I don't really go on holiday, at least not in recent times.

f) On the telephone to your work contacts

More (b)

g) On the telephone with you close family and friends

About the same (c)

8. What type of stammerer are you:

a) A closet stammer (You don't overtly stammer but use word substituition and other strategies)?
b) You stammer openly on words that you want and choose to use.

A closet stammerer (a)

9. Do loud background noise makes your stammer:

No real difference although I do have a quiet voice so people can't hear me very well if there is a lot of background noise.

10. In your opinion, does having a healthy and regular sex life(For the over 16s only):

I can't really answer this at the moment.

1. How old were you when you started full blown stammering?

Answer:

Around age 8.

2. Were you as a child a)introverted or b)extroverted, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

Answer:

What does introverted and extroverted mean??

3. Were you as a child a)confident or b)not confident, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

Answer:

c) In between, although I don't remember far back then.

4. Did you mix and socialise a)easily or b) not easily, or c) somewhere in between, with other children before you stammered?

Answer:

a) Easily socialized before stuttering. But below age 8 before I stuttered, how much socializing was there to do!!

5. Did your stammer a) improve or b) got worse, or c) stayed the same, into adolescence?

Answer:

b) Got gradualy worse as I got older.

6. Have you ever suffered from unreasonable anxiety or panic attacks, not connected with any stammering issue?

Answer:

No

7. Do you stammer a)less or b)more or c) about the same) :

a) After significant alcohol intake concurrently?

Answer:

I don't drink

b) After significant alcohol the next day?

Answer:

I don't drink

c) With your family?

Answer:

c) About the same. Sometimes worse stuttering, sometimes less stuttering with family.

d) With your job and work colleagues and customers/clients

Answer:

a) Less

e) On holiday

Answer:

About the same

f) On the telephone to your work contacts

Answer:

C) about the same, or a little less at times

g) On the telephone with you close family and friends

Answer:

C) About the same

8. What type of stammerer are you:

Answer:

B) I stammer openly on words that I want and choose to use.

9. Do loud background noise makes your stammer:

Answer:

B) Makes it better.

10. In your opinion, does having a healthy and regular sex life(For the over 16s only):

Answer:

I would not know.

[J1S]

1. How old were you when you started full blown stammering?

have been for as long as I can remember.

2. Were you as a child a)introverted or b)extroverted, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

Probably somewhere in between.

3. Were you as a child a)confident or b)not confident, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

Probably somewhere in between for this question too.

4. Did you mix and socialise a)easily or b) not easily, or c) somewhere in between, with other children before you stammered?

I only really talked to freinds.

5. Did your stammer a) improve or b) got worse, or c) stayed the same, into adolescence?

I think it stayed the same, I just learned to control it a little better.

6. Have you ever suffered from unreasonable anxiety or panic attacks, not connected with any stammering issue?

Nope

7. Do you stammer a)less or b)more or c) about the same) :

a) After significant alcohol intake concurrently?
it takes alot of alcohol, but I do not stutter as much.

b) After significant alcohol the next day?

I seem like I can talk easier the next morning

c) With your family?

Its the worst with my family

d) With your job and work colleagues and customers/clients
less

e) On holiday
same

f) On the telephone to your work contacts
same

g) On the telephone with you close family and friends
same

8. What type of stammerer are you:

a) A closet stammer (You don't overtly stammer but use word substituition and other strategies)?
b) You stammer openly on words that you want and choose to use.

depends who I am talking to, with my family I just stutter openly

9. Loud background noise makes your stammer:

c) No difference

10. In your opinion, does having a healthy and regular sex life(For the over 16s only):

a) Improve your stammer
b) Makes it worse
c) No different

Iv'e never had a regular sex life. (haha wow us stutterers sure are players)

[mo885]

1. How old were you when you started full blown stammering?

14

2. Were you as a child a)introverted or b)extroverted, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

Introverted

3. Were you as a child a)confident or b)not confident, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

C. somewhere in between.

4. Did you mix and socialise a)easily or b) not easily, or c) somewhere in between, with other children before you stammered?

C. somewhere in between.

5. Did your stammer a) improve or b) got worse, or c) stayed the same, into adolescence?

Can't answer because I started in adolescence.

6. Have you ever suffered from unreasonable anxiety or panic attacks, not connected with any stammering issue?

Yes i've had anxiety and panic attacks.

7. Do you stammer a)less or b)more or c) about the same) :

a) After significant alcohol intake concurrently?
Much less.

b) After significant alcohol the next day?
More the next morning.

c) With your family?
c-about the same

d) With your job and work colleagues and customers/clients
c-about the same

e) On holiday
same

f) On the telephone to your work contacts
more

g) On the telephone with you close family and friends
same

8. What type of stammerer are you:

a) A closet stammer (You don't overtly stammer but use word substituition and other strategies)?
b) You stammer openly on words that you want and choose to use.

I am both.

9. Loud background noise makes your stammer:

c) No difference

10. In your opinion, does having a healthy and regular sex life(For the over 16s only):

a) Improve your stammer
b) Makes it worse
c) No different

[nik037]

c) With your family?

Its the worst with my family



I found this interesting because I too stutter the worst with my family and very close friends. :(

[nik037]

1. How old were you when you started full blown stammering?
3

2. Were you as a child a)introverted or b)extroverted, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?
Extroverted

3. Were you as a child a)confident or b)not confident, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?
Confident

4. Did you mix and socialise a)easily or b) not easily, or c) somewhere in between, with other children before you stammered?
easily

5. Did your stammer a) improve or b) got worse, or c) stayed the same, into adolescence?
got worse

6. Have you ever suffered from unreasonable anxiety or panic attacks, not connected with any stammering issue?
Yes

7. Do you stammer a)less or b)more or c) about the same) :

a) After significant alcohol intake concurrently
less
b) After significant alcohol the next day?
the same
c) With your family?
much more
d) With your job and work colleagues and customers/clients
less
e) On holiday
the same
f) On the telephone to your work contacts
worse
g) On the telephone with you close family and friends
much worse- my worst situation prb

8. What type of stammerer are you:

a) A closet stammer (You don't overtly stammer but use word substituition and other strategies)?
b) You stammer openly on words that you want and choose to use.

Both


9. Loud background noise makes your stammer:

a)Worse
b) Better
c) No difference

Worse
10. In your opinion, does having a healthy and regular sex life(For the over 16s only):

a) Improve your stammer
b) Makes it worse
c) No different

I would say worse...bc when I was not having sex (before I got engaged) I did not stutter badly around guys I was dating or with my current fiance. Once we got serious, my stutter got worse with him. Similar to my stuttering is bad with my family.

[Explorer]

Just an interim message to all contributors so far.

Thanks very much for your frankness, and I hope a few more members will now join in as a result.

[lglovesjp]

1. How old were you when you started full blown stammering?
16 years old

2. Were you as a child a)introverted or b)extroverted, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?
a) introverted I have always been quite quiet but still made friends

3. Were you as a child a)confident or b)not confident, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?
b) I was probably not that confident I got teased at school

4. Did you mix and socialise a)easily or b) not easily, or c) somewhere in between, with other children before you stammered?
c) Before I stammered I did mix with people

5. Did your stammer a) improve or b) got worse, or c) stayed the same, into adolescence?
b) got worse as I got older

6. Have you ever suffered from unreasonable anxiety or panic attacks, not connected with any stammering issue?
Sometimes I do feel anxiety passing some people out on the street because I use to get teased so I can get quite nervous

7. Do you stammer a)less or b)more or c) about the same) :

a) After significant alcohol intake concurrently? c
b) After significant alcohol the next day? c
c) With your family? c
d) With your job and work colleagues and customers/clients b
e) On holiday a
f) On the telephone to your work contacts b
g) On the telephone with you close family and friends a

8. What type of stammerer are you:

a) A closet stammer (You don't overtly stammer but use word substituition and other strategies)?

9. Loud background noise makes your stammer:

c) No difference

10. In your opinion, does having a healthy and regular sex life(For the over 16s only):

c) No different

[tb1223]

1. How old were you when you started full blown stammering?
I've been stuttering as long as I can remember. I'll be 19 next month.

2. Were you as a child a)introverted or b)extroverted, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?
I think as a child I was more extroverted than I am now.

3. Were you as a child a)confident or b)not confident, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?
Again, I was definitely more confident as a child, before I became older and started to become more self-conscious about stuttering and realize the social implications of having a stutter.

4. Did you mix and socialise a)easily or b) not easily, or c) somewhere in between, with other children before you stammered?
N/A

5. Did your stammer a) improve or b) got worse, or c) stayed the same, into adolescence?
Sometimes I feel like it got worse, but I think it just seems that way because this was the point where I became fully self-conscious and nervous about it. So I would say it's been about the same all my life.

6. Have you ever suffered from unreasonable anxiety or panic attacks, not connected with any stammering issue?
No.

7. Do you stammer a)less or b)more or c) about the same) :

a) After significant alcohol intake concurrently?
Less.
b) After significant alcohol the next day?
Same.
c) With your family?
More, I think.
d) With your job and work colleagues and customers/clients
N/A
e) On holiday
Same.
f) On the telephone to your work contacts
N/A
g) On the telephone with you close family and friends
Same. More with strangers though.

8. What type of stammerer are you:

a) A closet stammer (You don't overtly stammer but use word substituition and other strategies)?
b) You stammer openly on words that you want and choose to use.

The second one. I stutter on almost everything I say.

9. Loud background noise makes your stammer:

a)Worse
b) Better
c) No difference
Better I think, I tend not to stutter when shouting over something.

10. In your opinion, does having a healthy and regular sex life(For the over 16s only):

a) Improve your stammer
b) Makes it worse
c) No different

Wouldn't know.

[StutterNoise]

1. How old were you when you started full blown stammering?

3


2. Were you as a child:

a)introverted or b)extroverted, or c)somewhere in between

c

3. Were you as a child
a)confident
b)not confident
c)somewhere in between


b


4. Did you mix and socialize
a)easily
b) not easily
c) somewhere in between, with other children before you stammered?

b

5. Did your stammer
a) got better
b) got worse
c) stayed the same, into adolescence?

(got a little better, but sometimes worse)

6. Have you ever suffered from unreasonable anxiety or panic attacks, not connected with any stammering issue? Yes

7. Do you stammer
a)less
b)more
c) about the same

a) After significant alcohol intake concurrently?

I don't drink.

b) After significant alcohol the next day?

does not apply


c) With your family?

b


d) With your job and work colleagues and customers/clients

c

e) On holiday

c

f) On the telephone to your work contacts

c

g) On the telephone with you close family and friends

b

8. What type of stammerer are you:

a) A closet stammer (You don't overtly stammer but use word substitution and other strategies)?
b) You stammer openly on words that you want and choose to use.

a

9. Loud background noise makes your stammer:

a)Worse
b) Better
c) No difference

a


10. In your opinion, does having a healthy and regular sex life(For the over 16s only):

a) Improve your stammer
b) Makes it worse
c) No different


c

[lemon]

1. How old were you when you started full blown stammering?
i cant remember accurately, but i remember my teacher in year 3 pointed it out to my parents and suggested i have speech therapy so i guess that was about 7 years old.

2. Were you as a child a)introverted or b)extroverted, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?
i was quite shy, so i guess introverted.

3. Were you as a child a)confident or b)not confident, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?
umm, it had its ups and downs i think, as it does now, but i guess mainly not confident.

4. Did you mix and socialise a)easily or b) not easily, or c) somewhere in between, with other children before you stammered?
i think i mixed easily, i had a close knit group of friends.

5. Did your stammer a) improve or b) got worse, or c) stayed the same, into adolescence?
I think it got worse into adolescence, but only because it was more noticeable, because more situations arose where i had to speak and i would stutter more, eg make phone calls, and as a kid, i never had to make such phone calls...so perhaps it stayed the same?!

6. Have you ever suffered from unreasonable anxiety or panic attacks, not connected with any stammering issue?
i do get incredibly tense in some situations, only because i work myself and keep going over the situation over and over...which i assume stammer is involved, as it seems to be with everything i do!

7. Do you stammer a)less or b)more or c) about the same) :

a) After significant alcohol intake concurrently?
about the same i think.
b) After significant alcohol the next day?
about the same!
c) With your family?
umm im ok with them generally, not so great with my parents.
d) With your job and work colleagues and customers/clients?
more with customers, the more they get impatient and angry at me, the more scared and prone to stutter i am...work colleagues- dont stutter with them
e) On holiday
umm, yeh about the same, little but more perhaps
f) On the telephone to your work contacts
more. dont like the telephone at work!
g) On the telephone with you close family and friends
generally dont stutter around friends or family on the telephone. only very sometimes with my family when they ask particular questions involve specific information and i cant seem to say it!

8. What type of stammerer are you:

a) A closet stammer (You don't overtly stammer but use word substituition and other strategies)?
b) You stammer openly on words that you want and choose to use.
i guess a closet stammer. there are only certain situations when i stutter, im generally ok.

9. Loud background noise makes your stammer:
no i dont think it does. i think it encourages me not to stammer cos the loud noise covers my voice, and i quite like that, so they cant hear and cant hear if i do stutter!

10. In your opinion, does having a healthy and regular sex life(For the over 16s only):
ummm, well in my opinion, i think the only correlation that there is between 'a healthy and regular sex life' and stuttering that it would make you happy i guess, so would make you stutter less perhaps. i say that because i find when i am feeling rather miserable, my speech is a lot worse because im stressing over it so much. so id like to think being happy makes happy speech...:)

[springyrice]

1. How old were you when you started full blown stammering?

Around 5 or 6

2. Were you as a child a)introverted or b)extroverted, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

Introverted

3. Were you as a child a)confident or b)not confident, or c)somewhere in between, at that time in 1.?

Not confident

4. Did you mix and socialise a)easily or b) not easily, or c) somewhere in between, with other children before you stammered?

I don't really remember not having a stammer

5. Did your stammer a) improve or b) got worse, or c) stayed the same, into adolescence?

Got worse

6. Have you ever suffered from unreasonable anxiety or panic attacks, not connected with any stammering issue?

Yes

7. Do you stammer a)less or b)more or c) about the same) :

a) After significant alcohol intake concurrently?
about the same
b) After significant alcohol the next day?
about the same
c) With your family?
more
d) With your job and work colleagues and customers/clients
about the same
e) On holiday
about the same
f) On the telephone to your work contacts
more
g) On the telephone with you close family and friends
about the same

8. What type of stammerer are you:

a) A closet stammer (You don't overtly stammer but use word substituition and other strategies)?
b) You stammer openly on words that you want and choose to use.

A bit of both really

9. Loud background noise makes your stammer:

Worse

10. In your opinion, does having a healthy and regular sex life(For the over 16s only):

I'll leave this blank.