I guess I became desensitized (in relation to my communication issues) by routinely placing myself in situations that generated fear or discomfort. I consciously commenced such a proactive approach in 2000 when I decided to make a concerted effort to confront my fears. With hindsight, I now realize that I had made considerable inroads into reducing my levels of anxiety during the preceding 20 years (when I wore a small prosthetic device known as the Edinburgh Masker).<\/p>\n
It became my mechanical crutch, allowing me to keep my head above water in my darkest hours. Although the electronic machine never made me fluent, it gave me the confidence (under the umbrella of the masking sound) to speak in situations that I know I would, otherwise, have avoided (particularly while on police duties).<\/p>\n
As a result, I acquired very useful interpersonal skills which many PWS (quite understandably) do not possess because they tend to remain on the fringes of conversation. Conversely, `fluent’ people generally develop these skills progressively from an early age. The fact that I had attained a high degree of proficiency in the art of chit chat\/small talk proved invaluable when (13 years ago) I chose to challenge my restrictive beliefs and embark upon a more expansive lifestyle.<\/p>\n
I think it is important to clarify the point that I gained the expertise to engage in meaningful oral conversation (with others) MANY YEARS before I acquired greater fluency. Yet, I did not appreciate that I possessed such skills until I had occasion to spend a protracted period in the company of a large group of other PWS\/PWB (for the very first time in my life). This occurred when I attended my initial McGuire course (and subsequent support groups) in 2000.<\/p>\n
Although many of those present (having been equipped with certain physiological tools\/techniques) could amply demonstrate that they were able to speak well in those controlled environments, their conversational skills (in a social situation) remained limited. Please be assured that these comments are not intended to be disparaging, I’m simply making an observation. As with any skill, we do not become proficient overnight, we need to perform that specific task repeatedly.<\/p>\n
Over the years, I have facilitated several active workshops on this very subject. I feel that many PWS\/PWB could benefit from gaining greater proficiency in this important area of communication.<\/p>\n
Bob, I’m sorry it’s taken me a few days to respond but I have not had an opportunity to scrutinze my posts during recent days.<\/p>\n
Kindest regards
\nAlan<\/p>\n
Det h\u00e4r inl\u00e4gget av Alan Badmington tycker jag v\u00e4l illustrerar hur mycket man beh\u00f6ver tr\u00e4na f\u00f6r att n\u00e5 framg\u00e5ng. Vi \u00e4r alla olika och var och en m\u00e5ste sj\u00e4lv ta reda p\u00e5 hur mycket tr\u00e4ning man beh\u00f6ver l\u00e4gga ner f\u00f6r att n\u00e5 fram till ett visst m\u00e5l. Alan B n\u00e4mner f\u00f6r sin del att det f\u00f6r honom har tagit flera \u00e5r. S\u00e5 har det varit \u00e4ven f\u00f6r mig. Flera \u00e5r!!! Det l\u00e5ter kanske avskr\u00e4ckande. Det skulle det ha gjort f\u00f6r mig om jag f\u00e5tt veta i f\u00f6rv\u00e4g hur m\u00e5nga \u00e5r jag sj\u00e4lv har beh\u00f6vt tr\u00e4na mitt tal f\u00f6r att det skulle bli m\u00e4rkbart b\u00e4ttre. D\u00e4rf\u00f6r m\u00e5ste tr\u00e4ningen g\u00f6ras lustbetonad. Det m\u00e5ste vara kul att tr\u00e4na. Att \u00e5stadkomma lockande tr\u00e4ningsvillkor \u00e4r en angel\u00e4gen uppgift f\u00f6r alla stamningsf\u00f6reningar. Det uppt\u00e4ckte vi i TALAkademin. Vi ordnade d\u00e4rf\u00f6r olika event som lockade till tr\u00e4ning p\u00e5 olika s\u00e4tt med syfte att f\u00f6rb\u00e4ttra v\u00e5r muntliga framst\u00e4llning. Det g\u00e4ller att h\u00e5lla ut. Att vara uppfinningsrik. Att ha kul tillsammans i en stamningsf\u00f6rening. G\u00e4rna samverka med andra stamningsf\u00f6reningar. I Sverige och \u00e4ven utomlands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I guess I became desensitized (in relation to my communication issues) by routinely placing myself in situations that generated fear or discomfort. I consciously commenced such a proactive approach in 2000 when I decided to make a concerted effort to confront my fears. With hindsight, I now realize that I had made considerable inroads into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blandat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/talakademin.nu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/talakademin.nu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/talakademin.nu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talakademin.nu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talakademin.nu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/talakademin.nu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/talakademin.nu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talakademin.nu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talakademin.nu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}