What does "covert/overt stuttering mean??

[happy7117]

I often see the terms "covert stuttering" or "overt stuttering" in posts, but I don't think I have ever used those terms before.

What does "covert stuttering" and "overt stuttering" mean??

[divisi]

An overt stutterer doesn't word-substitute, nor doesn't try to avoid a situation when he/she feels close to blocking.

A covert stutterer will do any trick available so that his stuttering is unnoticeable. Some stutterers achieve it quite well, so that others can't notice, although of course this extra-effort generates stress on them.

There're also stutterers like me who try to use covert tricks but don't achieve 100% successful results: Sometimes the tricks work (and so people see us speaking normally) but other times they don't (for example when you just can't word-substitute because you have to say an exact word), and on those times you stutter, perhaps badly (and because of this, some people get very surprised, specially if they met you in a situation where your covert tricks worked fine).

[happy7117]

An overt stutterer doesn't word-substitute, nor doesn't try to avoid a situation when he/she feels close to blocking

I don't word substitute either. Even if I stutter alot, I reluctantly go out to eat.

What I mean when I say reluctant is I feel very, very uneasy going out somewhere or out to eat when I know my stuttering is crappy. But I also cannot hide away from others because of the problem.

I also don't want to be a hermit and spend my life in a shell because of the embarrasment my stuttering causes me.

So I go out to do things with the uncertainy of how much I will stutter. I cannot hide away all my life, but I don't want to make a fool of myself when I go out.

The only times I feel unshy and overt is when I am very fluent if that makes sense.

But when I stutter badly, I feel very introverted!!

Confusing post, but stuttering is confusing too!