Covert Stuttering

Just had a quick conversation with a Twitter friend from UK who is experiencing discomfort as she comes out of the covert closet. Covert stuttering is near and dear to my heart, as I was an expert at hiding my stutter from the world. Lisa has been doing that too, for many years. But she is now taking small steps towards being more open and letting herself Be who she is.

She asked tonight, "Where do I belong, covert or overt? Cause there's no place in between, help. Feeling lost!"

I so know that feeling, being caught between two worlds. Like you don't fit in with the people who stutter openly and can't hide it even if they tried. And you don't fit in with fluent speakers either. So you feel lost, sort of in a nowhere place.

Professionals who will work with coverts really need to understand how emotionally complex this can feel. You feel no one understands. Lisa is experiencing growth in leaps and bounds, but it is also scary. Very scary, because it feels like you are abandoning the person you knew for someone you haven't met yet.

I talked about the covert stuttering experience at a workshop I did earlier in the week with Dr Klein and another SLP who stutters, Steve Marchant. A lot of the SLPs in the audience were incredulous that coverts can so well hide their stuttering and be so good at passing as fluent.

A fellow PWS who is also a current member of Fluency Council wrote a great piece on covert stuttering for this month's council newsletter. In it, he describes covert stuttering as a perfectly acceptable management technique towards more fluent speech. He does not believe it is hiding at all. He likens covert stuttering to wearing eye glasses if you need to correct your vision or a hearing aide if you are deaf. He simply substitutes feared words for easier words to correct his stuttered speech.

I know where my friend Lisa is coming from. It can be lonely and scary confronting what you have denied for years. Stuttering is not just stuttered speech.

What do you think? How would you advise Lisa?