Simple tips help speakers shed their stutter

STUTTERERS devise tricks. Chivalrously opening a restaurant door to allow a dinner date to field the waiter's questions. Feigning busyness to dodge a phone call at work. But when people asked Chris Gerraty his surname over the phone, the 48-year-old guitar teacher would just hang up.

''Because my worst words were those beginning with M, it was really hard to get my wife to marry me,'' said Mr Gerraty, who is now an instructor at the McGuire Programme.

Rohit Shah takes part in a McGuire Programme class in Melbourne  that helps people overcome their stuttering problems.
Rohit Shah takes part in a McGuire Programme class in Melbourne that helps people overcome their stuttering problems. Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui

Since 1998, more than 600 Australians have joined the $2200 program, which begins with a four-day intensive course. Classes are run all over the world based on the model founded in 1994 by American Dave McGuire.

His method focuses on breathing techniques similar to those employed by opera singers, and looking interlocutors in the eye to foster confidence.

One graduate at a recent course in Melbourne was supply chain professional Rohit Shah. ''When I gave presentations at university there was not even a single sentence I could speak that was really correct and coherent,'' said Mr Shah, who at age 29 has stuttered all his life. ''It was all over the place.''

He took the McGuire Programme last November and now speaks fluently most of the time, having passed the course's daunting finale - a speech in Melbourne's Bourke Street mall.


But despite glowing praise from participants, speech pathologists have been slow to endorse the program.

''Speech pathology practice is based on research and evidence,'' said Christine Stone, president of Speech Pathology Australia. ''While the McGuire Programme may have results for some people who stutter, there is currently no published evidence base to support its use by speech pathologists.''

The McGuire Programme prides itself on addressing ''the whole person'' not just the physical aspect of stuttering.

Mr Gerraty said stutterers ranged from angry to introverted, and the McGuire Programme rummaged through their emotional baggage to unlock underlying fears that sometimes originated years earlier.

Dr Sally Hewat, a senior lecturer in speech pathology at the University of Newcastle, said there were many theories why people stutter and research had found sufferers were more likely to have anxiety, but this was likely a symptom not a cause.

''It is a speech co-ordination disorder,'' Dr Hewat said. ''The timing isn't quite right with the message coming from the brain and the speech motor faculties.''

She said trials of cognitive behavioural therapy commonly employed by psychologists had been successful in reducing stutterers' anxiety but had done little to improve their speech.

But Mr Gerraty likened the McGuire Programme to Alcoholics Anonymous.

''It was only after 10 years that the American Medical Association acquiesced to say, 'OK, maybe alcoholics can help other alcoholics, even if they aren't trained','' he said.

Before the McGuire Programme, Mr Shah tried everything from speech therapy to acupuncture.

''It's difficult for speech therapists to relate and give the small tips that are necessary,'' he said. ''Like looking into the eyes or taking a little breath before you speak.''

Tasmanian Greg Swalwell is another McGuire graduate. ''The amount of times I went into McDonald's wanting a Big Mac and came out with a Fillet-o-Fish because it was easier to say …'' Mr Swalwell recalled, with a smile. ''And I hate seafood, man.''