Jill Feldbaum Speech and Language Pathology

10/22/2025

Today is International Stuttering Awareness Day. Here are 10 ways to celebrate: https://www.stutteringhelp.org/content/10-ways-celebrate-international-stuttering-awareness-day

10/01/2025

Van Riper: What He REALLY Said
#5: More Than Fluency Goals

📌Misquote: “Van Riper’s goal was perfect speech.”
✅Reality: Real goal? Effective communication, confidence, and control over stuttering—not perfection.
💬Quote: “The aim is not perfect speech, but better communication and less fear.”

09/28/2025

Van Riper: What He REALLY Said
#3 – Iceberg Alert

📌Misquote: “The Iceberg means just watch the stutter and fix it.”
✅Reality: The Iceberg metaphor? It’s a reminder: most stuttering struggles are below the surface--fear, shame, avoidance. Look deeper, don’t just polish the top.
💬Quote: “Most of what people feel about stuttering is hidden beneath the surface.”

09/24/2025

6. Changing attitudes
❌Old response: Feeling shame or failure when a block happens.
✅Modified response: Viewing it as just another moment of speech--an opportunity to practice easier stuttering, not a setback.

09/22/2025

4. Reducing avoidance
❌Old response: You avoid saying your name in introductions because you fear blocking.
✅Modified response: You face the moment, use a preparatory set if needed, and say your name openly--even if you stutter.

09/16/2025

09/16/2025

📖Van Riper's whole philosophy was: You can’t always get rid of the struggle, but you can change the way you respond to it. That’s true in many parts of life, not just speech. Here are some examples of everyday behaviors where people learn to “modify” instead of “eliminate,” showing that changing a learned response is not only possible . . . it’s powerful:

1. Learning to Fall in Sports
Old behavior: When you trip on the soccer field, you stiffen up, brace, and crash painfully.
Modified behavior: Athletes are taught to roll with the fall—to bend their knees, tuck their arms, and let momentum carry them. Falling doesn’t disappear, but it becomes less damaging and more controlled.
👉 Just like stuttering, you don’t have to avoid the fall—you learn to fall better.

2. Handling Mistakes in Music
Old behavior: A piano player hits the wrong key, freezes, and starts the piece over in frustration.
Modified behavior: Musicians are trained to play through mistakes, keeping the rhythm flowing. The “wrong note” becomes part of the performance, and the audience often doesn’t even notice.
👉 The “mistake” is still there, but how you handle it makes all the difference.

3. Managing Anger
Old behavior: Someone cuts you off in traffic, and you explode with rage, yelling or honking.
Modified behavior: You notice the anger rising, take a breath, and choose a calmer response . . . maybe mutter “Glad you got where you’re going” and let it pass.
👉 You didn’t erase anger . . . you changed your response to it.

4. Learning in Martial Arts
Old behavior: When grabbed, your instinct is to fight back with brute force, often making the hold tighter.
Modified behavior: Martial artists learn to redirect the energy . . . moving with the opponent’s force instead of against it.
👉 Resistance turns into flow. Struggle turns into skill.

5. Handling Nervousness
Old behavior: Before a presentation, your heart races and hands shake, and you try desperately to hide it.
Modified behavior: You accept the nerves, channel the adrenaline into energy, and let it fuel your delivery.
👉 The nerves remain—but they stop being the enemy.

6. Learning to Drive on Ice
Old behavior: You hit ice, panic, and slam the brakes—making the skid worse.
Modified behavior: You’re taught to steer into the skid and ease up, regaining control.
👉 The skid doesn’t disappear—you just handle it differently.
💡 The Takeaway:

We all carry learned habits—tightening up when scared, hiding mistakes, avoiding discomfort. But just like with stuttering, those responses can be retrained. You don’t erase the challenge—you change your dance with it.

That’s the heart of Van Riper’s wisdom:
➡️ The struggle isn’t the problem.
➡️ The way you respond to the struggle can be transformed.

09/12/2025

READ MORE: https://www.stutteringhelp.org/sometimes-i-just-stutter

09/09/2025

06/23/2025

Autistic people are more likely to suffer anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. So why is it so hard for them to get help?