Stuttering Made Simple (Through Cartoons!)

I’ve always defined stuttering as..

A discord between one’s thoughts, and the journey they take to exit one’s mouth.

In my description, I tried to touch upon both the physiological and mental/emotional implications of stuttering. Both are important. So, so important. Like, more important than getting another Die Hard. (Yeah, let that register)

However, thinking about a stutter no doubt still starts with examining the actual stutter, itself.

And that’s when I begin thinking of verbs like block, disrupt, stumble, hold, and repeat. All words we hear and use in our day to day lives. But for a stutterer, these elevate from normal, occasionally used terms, to what I’m going to call “lifestyle verbs”. Meaning they are ingrained into our makeup, the same as eating, napping, cuddling a stuffed animal out of sheer loneliness, etc…

No matter your perception of what a stutter is (what it sounds like / looks like / what you think of one etc), it’s important for all of us to possess knowledge of what makes up stuttering as a series of actions that take place daily.

I stutter, just like the average person cries about their credit score. Probably about as often, too. (YIKES)

Specifically, I feel we ought to be able to recognize the different subsets of a stutter that are exhibited every day.

There are three main ones to know. And they’re quite simple, really.

Let’s take a few minutes and get all warm and cozy with each of these fully eligible, speech impediment bachelors…

DISCLAIMER: These next three sections require a loose familiarity with a very formal, serious minded group of individuals called the Looney Tunes…

BLOCK

To block on a sound is the equivalent of slamming into an unsuspecting wall.

Sometimes, if we employ enough self-awareness, we might be able to sense that the wall is coming.

But more often than not, it springs upon us like it would in a really strong, painfully visceral Wile E. Coyote bit.

You know, one of the million where he yearns to sink his teeth into Road Runner’s bitch ass, but instead ends up with an unexpected mouthful of fresh brick.

It’s the year 2020 and I’m sharing vibes with a vintage cartoon coyote, but I’m HERE FOR IT.

More on the basic block:

• Sometimes all that makes its way out of our mouths are a few strangled bursts of air. (Not too different from the Looney Tunes injury equivalent, which would be seeing concussion induced, cutesy little stars everywhere.)

It’s truly the oral equivalent of being a hand-drawn coyote with no caught prey. And no drive. No will to ever try again. Until the next short, chaotic episode that is. The silver lining here is that both our furry friend and the typical stuttering individual are not altogether keen on giving up that easily. And so, all parties keep trudging along through the fray.

REPETITION

To run into repetition in one’s speech is to run into multiple walls. Each one essentially identical to the next. Standing with each other in rampant solidarity.

I’m having a lot of fun with this Looney Tunes analogy, so let’s roll with another scenario.

Our self-loathing Coyote friend is now fully prepped for wall-related disaster to strike. The poor guy has attempted to do his homework, and it’s oddly cute. Long story short, he uses an ACME licensed wall-detector helmet (I don’t own) to deter himself safely past his brick encrusted foe.

Feeling safe from future harm, he takes his contraption off and flashes us one of his signature, fourth wall (heh!) shattering grins, until OH MY GOD, ANOTHER WALL! And behind that wall?! ANOTHER WALL! And most likely ANOTHER. And ANOTHER and… okay, you get it.

More on repetition:

• We repeat iterations of a trouble sound a non-specified number of times, until we either get the word out, or change what was going to be specifically said in the first place.

• Repetition is a level up from the typical block, seeing that we get at least a series of initial sounds out. But in many cases, this type of stutter is the most obvious give away that a person is stuttering in the first place.

• As far as the media goes, it is the most “popular” type of stutter out there. A true “glamour-stammer”, and also the most recognized form by non-stutterers. It’s the type of stutter most prone to sitting at the cool table in the cafeteria. (The one right by the pizza and the vending machine that sells the most sought flavors of Vitamin Water. God, it’s just so freaking awesome.)

Think of my dude Porky Pig. Now think of his famous farewell greeting (you know the one) and wah-lah! You’re now able to identify repetition as the most “commercial” type of stuttering.

Time to start writing that Porky Pig character analysis article you’ve been brainstorming ideas for!

That’s all on Repetition, folks!

PROLONGATION

Okay, a prolongation is pretty much a held out version of a sound.

Think of it as a stutter that’s been given performance-enhancing drugs. Durable. Durable like a bull. And sometimes awful and pain-inducing like a bull, too. Or I guess Barry Bonds.

Currently, our poor, motherfucking coyote compadre just can’t figure a way past this whole wall situation. The dude is closing in on rock bottom, and not even physically speaking. I’m talking internally. We hate to see it.

He’s been blocked and bashed by a wall. Repeatedly blocked and bashed by multiple walls. At this point, he probably feels like giving up on both his pursuit of speedy birds, and his television career altogether.

But just before he completely loses hope, one last brilliant idea pops into his furry head…

Yes, that’s right.
Yes, you’ve all guessed it.
Yes, I’m so proud!

He’s going to drill his way through the wall, and get his paws on that damn dirty runner of road!

Only there’s a tiny (massively… tiny) issue that stands:

When a wall is big, tough, and… wall-like, we’re only going to be able to drill through a few inches before we start feeling a burning sensation course through our bodies.

We can either keep that feeling racing around, like a Tasmanian Devil whirling its way inside our joints, or we can stop the concentrated madness and learn to turn the drill onto a less strenuous setting.

The same logic applies to a prolongated stutter.

More on prolongation:

• We hold our sound through and through, struggling just to move on to the next.

• Even if we do, there might be other trouble spots in close tandem with the given prolongation. Sometimes, prolongations are a result of fearing other difficult sounds we sense coming. Indirectly, and never in a helping way, “prolonging” the next foreseeable stutter.

• Prolongations are a longer form of stuttering, so they may equate to longer bouts of tension in our bodies. Because of this, it’s possible that head/face/body movements, as well as avoidance strategies, will become more drawn out and visually noticeable. More “advertised”.

• Sometimes intentional efforts to speak more slowly can result in a premeditated type of prolongation. It depends on the person, but I know if I’m taking more time transitioning between sounds, there are usually a few tricky ones I purposely prolong in an effort to sort of glide over them. Sometimes it works, and sometimes I fall flat on my stuttering face. Such is life!

At their worst, prolongations can be triggers of what seems like never-ending discomfort. However, at their best, they can sometimes be visceral reminders to slow down and reset our speech.

IN CONCLUSION

I can only speak to what I know, and I know these three verbal hindrances very well. However, even as a long time stutterer, I am still learning more about them as I confront new life challenges and experiences.

The frequency of these main types of stuttering patterns varies greatly, from one stuttering person to the next. Especially those who take up speech therapy and begin learning to utilize different fluency techniques. Currently, I’m more of a prolongation heavy kind of dude, but that doesn’t mean I don’t run into basic blocks or the occasional bout of repetition.

Some moods cater to blocks. Certain situations, geared towards prolongations. And repetitions, triggered at different times, depending on your surrounding company at a given moment.

The identity of a stutter-er is much more specific and personal than most people realize. We’ll be exploring more of that later, but for now, I might recommend kicking back and relaxing with a few episodes of semi-heavy, semi-disturbing cartoon violence.

And please, for the love of all that is pure, let me know if you see any god-damn walls…