TRANSCRIPT OF A PRESENTATION, BY ALAN BADMINGTON, TO ...

egulatory body in the USA – does not require SLPs to have contact with
persons who stutter, prior to graduation).
After the final presentation I was given a birthday cake to celebrate the first
anniversary of the commencement of my recovery, together with a model
turtle – the significance of which is that a turtle can only move forward if it
pushes its neck out. The Professor suggested that I had certainly pushed
my neck out during the preceding twelve months.
During my life, as I suffered the social consequences of malfunctioning
speech, I changed the way I felt about myself, and others. I developed
social strategies to protect myself from shame and embarrassment. I also
developed strategies for pushing out, or hiding, difficult words. When these
changes began to influence and reinforce each other, the problem became
self-perpetuating.
All these adjustments were made to support my stuttering habit. I knew
that if I did not change the components in this system, the same system
would have sat around waiting for the missing component (my stutter) to
reappear. I was not prepared to allow that to happen.
So every day (even now) I still set myself new goals as I continue to etch –
erode - the negativity that influenced my life, and my speech, for so long. I
am determined that my old stuttering behaviour will never return. I am
showing myself differently to the world and I love the way it is reacting
differently to me.
My programme recognises that changing personal defaults in a number of
areas does not occur overnight, and allows graduates to return on as many
occasions as they wish. I have now completed nine courses. I didn’t need
to go back as many times as that; I had attained such a remarkable degree
of fluency after the initial course. However, I chose to return because I
wished to reinforce, and utilise, my speech in a variety of situations.
During that time I have become empowered by coaching others, in addition
to maintaining my own recovery.