Stuttering: a short animation film

Check out Bertrand and Timmy's animation film about stuttering. I met them at the Antwerp stuttering conference.

Let me know what you think, and help the creators with your feedback!

Friday key note speakers at Antwerp ECSF Conference

I am sitting here in the entrance hall close to the reception desk of the Antwerp Conference.

Here is my report on the three Friday key note speakers:

The first keynote speaker was Ann Packmann. Her speech was about Exploring the relationship between treatment and causal theory in stuttering. She also presented her model of the moment of stuttering, developed by herself and Attanasio. She started out with talking about how one needs to find the cause for a heart issue and back pain before treating it. Unfortunately, that was not a good example, because many people now recognize the biopsychosocial aspects of these issues. Back pain and heart issue can certainly come from or be modulated by psychosocial causes, and treating the physical cause might not be enough. he then talks about  verbal communication & complexity theory. She correctly says that speaking is the most complex thing humans do and which sets them apart from other primates. She goes into complexity theory

Guest Blogger Richard Harkness: Stuttering's Primary Paradox and How it Tricks Us

Here is a guest post by Richard Harkness. If you want to be a guest blogger, please contact me.

Stuttering's Primary Paradox and How it Tricks Us (Richard Harkness) 

Some readers might remember me from workshops I've presented on the brain basis of stuttering and neuropatterning at National Stuttering Association (NSA) conventions in San Diego, Denver, Buffalo, and Atlanta. My most recent project was completing the new neuropatterning Home Course [http://neuropatterningforstutterers.com].

What I call the primary paradox, more than any other aspect of stuttering, accounts for the tremendous confusion that has always surrounded this perplexing disorder. It's easy to fall into this pothole.

The paradox is this: If PWS (Persons Who Stutter) can be fluent in some situations, why can't they be fluent in all situations? That is, why can most PWS speak fluently when speaking alone or to a pet--but stutter when aware of a human listener? And why can most PWS speak fluently when chorus reading (reading aloud in unison with someone else)? What could explain this except some kind of emotional or psychological issue? (This seeming paradox can be explained neurologically-by the excitation feedback component of stuttering-as discussed in The Two Components of Stuttering [http://neuropatterningforstutterers.com/?page_id=1056].

Arya Kumar Sinha believes that stuttering is totally curable.

Arya Kumar Sinha wrote to me that stuttering is curable. Read his email to me. I am not sure about his "By the laws of physics .Many-worlds interpretation , which successfully explained , loopholes of quantum physics , and today Dr. Stephen Hawking is a great supporter of this theory."

Hi Tom , I am Arya Kumar Sinha. I would like to contradict the view that is propagated in your web-site like stammering is not curable. My view is that : stammering is totally curable. I will place good arguments in favor of it. I am from India. At one point , I used to stammer severely with block/repeat on "A" "E" "I" "M" O" "U" "P" "D" "R" "L". From there , today i have achieved total fluency. I can speak fast like any normal speaker , without a single block on any letter. Why stammering is curable : The argument is : 1) Consider flipping of coin . P(head) = P(tail) =1/2. Similarly if we assume 2 states of stammering , then P(cure)=P(non-cure)= 1/2. So I rule out your 1st argument that stammering is not curable, by showing that there is equal possibility of both the cure/non-cure states. Its perfectly up to you to choose one. Both of these states exist in nature. 2) A computer i.e the logical processing area of a computer is composed of 3 parts. 1) Software 2) Operating system 3) Hardware. A programming error/bug appears if there is malfunction/error in the software part or OS or hardware. If in case of stammering there was a hardware error . then the individual would face it , while singing or while talking to himself. But in such cases a stammerer finds himself totally fluent thereby signalling that there is