Over 68 million people worldwide suffer from a stutter. That factors out to be about 1% of the world population–1 in every 100 people has some degree of a stutter. However, countless forms of vocal therapy have helped those with a stutter to improve their vocal fluency.
AARP recently looked to Balakrishnan when interest in stutter therapy increased enormously with the release of The Kings Speech and the film’s recent win of the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film tells the story of King George VI of Britain, a well known figure who suffered from a little-known stutter. George’s stammer led him toward a proclivity to avoid both attention from others and speaking in crowds, two unavoidable situations for the king of a nation. With Britain’s entrance to World War II in 1939, the king was led to Lionel Logue, a speech therapist who helped George to deliver some of the most empowering addresses of the second World War without fear and absent of stuttering.
AARP was very interested in Balakrishnan’s approach involving singing. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“Melodic intonation therapy can be effective as well. It uses singing to develop speaking in stroke patients, and it may benefit some stutterers, observes J.M. Balakrishnan, a speech therapist near Berkeley, Calif., and author of Yoga for Stuttering: Unifying the Voice, Breath, Mind and Body to Achieve Fluent Speech. Neurological research shows that one part of the brain controls singing while another area regulates speaking. Producing long, melodic tones helps reconnect the two. ‘People who stutter don’t stutter when they sing,’ she says.”
Throughout Yoga for Stuttering, Balakrishnan offers in-depth exercises to explain the proper physical formations with which to use varying vocal techniques to acclimate one’s body and mind to stop the urge to stutter. Balakrishnan also features multiple “case studies,” providing the reader with real-life examples of the patients with whom she has worked toward a stutter-free life. This combination of Western and Eastern philosophy is exemplary of the many different paths one suffering from a stutter can look toward for help. Stuttering is a real condition that affects many more people than the general population realizes, leading one to wonder how exactly Balakrishnan found her way into speech therapy. Did she or someone close to her have a stutter? Was there ever a case she found to be extremely difficult to help? Please, ask questions to which the author can reply!
