I thought it an idea to mention some books that I think are useful for everyone but, I think, particularly for PWS.
I suggest them because they are helpful for appreciating what is going on with other people and ourselves when we are in company and for practicing speaking.
The Book of Tells, Peter Collet. Good for letting you know what other people are thinking. Try using the information in a cafe when people watching. Good fun.
The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking, Dale Carnegie. Loads of hints and tips. Excellent. Style a bit dated but humans have been talking for a lot of years now and nothing changes.
Confident Conversation, Lillian Glass. Lots of tips and there is always something you can use. Buy second hand.
Confident Speaking, Godefroy &Barrat. Really about business presentations but the odd tip is worth the money . Buy second hand.
Also books by Cicily Berry, Sewart Pearce and Patsy Rodenburg and tape by Carol Fleming. Mostly for actors, except the last.
These are about articulation and speaking clearly.
Rodenburg's tapes: 'The right to Speak' are excellent and for everyone not specifically for actors. Might be easier to try the tapes first to hear the exercises.
Won't resolve the stammering but will add to confidence and give the PWS a goal while speaking. I have books and tapes by all of the above and ransacked the bookshelves to find them for this blog. They are for everyone not just PWS. Look them up on Amazon.
Hope you enjoy
Let me, and others, know
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Learning Curve
How do we think we learn to do something, over time? Sometimes it is instant and we know how to do it and at other times we try again and again and sometimes succeed and sometimes fail.
Learning is 3 steps forward and 2 back, or 3 forward and 3 back so need to start over. Or it feels that way.
How we look at learning and the metaphors we use to support ourselves in learning are very important.
When we fail to do as well as we hope, we can feel bad and give up on ourselves, give ourselves a severe talking to, tell ourselves we will never learn, that we are hopeless that trying is too much trouble. So we start again, maybe.
What is the reality? In the past when we learned to write, use a keyboard, walk, run, drive a car, eat with knife and fork, dance formally were we as good at our first attempt as we are now. I doubt it, but we persevered, and now it is like falling off a log.
We tell ourselves we are back at square one and we have a big job to get back to where we were yesterday or this morning. But if we use failure to wonder what was different in the case of failure and success and learn from each and adjust our behaviour earlier – and again it won’t be perfect, but we keep at it then our attitude has improved immeasurably.
George Soros one of the richest traders in the world has a 85% failure rate in his trades but the magnitude of the few successful trades overwhelms the losses on the losers. He expects to lose.
If he didn’t learn from his failures he would be the loser.
Learning is 3 steps forward and 2 back, or 3 forward and 3 back so need to start over. Or it feels that way.
How we look at learning and the metaphors we use to support ourselves in learning are very important.
When we fail to do as well as we hope, we can feel bad and give up on ourselves, give ourselves a severe talking to, tell ourselves we will never learn, that we are hopeless that trying is too much trouble. So we start again, maybe.
What is the reality? In the past when we learned to write, use a keyboard, walk, run, drive a car, eat with knife and fork, dance formally were we as good at our first attempt as we are now. I doubt it, but we persevered, and now it is like falling off a log.
We tell ourselves we are back at square one and we have a big job to get back to where we were yesterday or this morning. But if we use failure to wonder what was different in the case of failure and success and learn from each and adjust our behaviour earlier – and again it won’t be perfect, but we keep at it then our attitude has improved immeasurably.
George Soros one of the richest traders in the world has a 85% failure rate in his trades but the magnitude of the few successful trades overwhelms the losses on the losers. He expects to lose.
If he didn’t learn from his failures he would be the loser.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Former PWS
Ash is an adult and normal speaker now.
He kindly commented on Self Talk:
I used to have an intermittent stammer around ages 11-14. One day (I recall it quite well) I discovered a way to "think over it". It now recurs rarely, in moments of stress where I'm attending to what I'm saying.
It's a little hard to describe what I did... subjectively, part of it was that I moved my centre of consciousness - the point within my body which I think from, measure the world from - from my mouth/throat to higher up my head, behind my eyes. That's where the "over" bit comes from.
And I can bring it back at will (not that I often want to). Mostly by reversing the process described above, plus a bit of body tension, and directing my attention to my speaking/hearing.
I wanted to bring this to your attention rather than let it languish in a comment.
He kindly commented on Self Talk:
I used to have an intermittent stammer around ages 11-14. One day (I recall it quite well) I discovered a way to "think over it". It now recurs rarely, in moments of stress where I'm attending to what I'm saying.
It's a little hard to describe what I did... subjectively, part of it was that I moved my centre of consciousness - the point within my body which I think from, measure the world from - from my mouth/throat to higher up my head, behind my eyes. That's where the "over" bit comes from.
And I can bring it back at will (not that I often want to). Mostly by reversing the process described above, plus a bit of body tension, and directing my attention to my speaking/hearing.
I wanted to bring this to your attention rather than let it languish in a comment.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Self Talk
How do I set myself up to speak?
Take each of the words and emphasise them in turn so:
HOW do I set myself up to speak?
How DO I set myself up to speak? etc.
Different meaning eh?
Now do it with the rest.
What did you learn?
What we say is important but how we say it is very important and I wonder if that is an element in actors who don't stammer on stage eg Bruce Willis and Rowan Atkinson.
Take each of the words and emphasise them in turn so:
HOW do I set myself up to speak?
How DO I set myself up to speak? etc.
Different meaning eh?
Now do it with the rest.
What did you learn?
What we say is important but how we say it is very important and I wonder if that is an element in actors who don't stammer on stage eg Bruce Willis and Rowan Atkinson.
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