{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "id": "CC-012",
  "title": "What did reading aloud do for my speaking practice?",
  "topic": "Conversations and practice",
  "author": {
    "name": "Craig Coffee",
    "id": "https://usedtostutter.com/craig-coffee#person"
  },
  "canonical_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reading-aloud-and-stuttering",
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  "context_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/about-this-material",
  "source_sha256": "ff35a1350b5b836eddf098e4da3d159514b9d4640f29ccb8aed56cac77adabe9",
  "source_markdown": "# What did reading aloud do for my speaking practice?\n\nBy [Craig Coffee](/craig-coffee)\n\nI read out loud to find some confidence in my own voice before I went out. I didn't have to feel confident already. Finding what confidence sounded like for me was part of the work.\n\nIn a conversation with Don, I described looking for a cadence, a pattern, a flow. Something that sounded a little more confident. I wanted the feeling of, hey, this is my flow. I'm talking good for me.\n\nThat was something I wanted to hear from myself before I walked into another speaking situation.\n\n## Read something you can get into\n\nDon't read boring shit. That was how I put it. Read material you like, something you can feel passionate about. Sports, music or another subject you enjoy. I wanted to lean into it and let some excitement come through.\n\n[Enthusiasm](/enthusiasm-and-speaking-confidence) mattered because I was working with the way my voice sounded and felt. I wanted energy and interest in what I was saying. Simply knowing the words on the page wasn't the whole purpose.\n\nIn that call, I kept coming back to the idea of hearing myself talk well. I was looking for a little confidence I could recognize in my own delivery.\n\n## What came before the grocery-store conversation?\n\nIn the grocery recording, I explained three things I did before getting there. Reading aloud was one. I also thought about a time when my speech had been a little better, even if it hadn't been perfect. I wanted to remember how that felt.\n\nThe other part was music: something I could play in the car or while walking that changed my emotional state. Reading, a remembered experience and music were parts of how I prepared myself before going out to speak.\n\nThen I entered the store. That is where I had to do the next part.\n\n## The person wasn't following a page\n\nI saw a man looking at cookies and commented on them. I said that if they were on sale, I was in trouble. I talked about how I used to eat junk food and asked, “how about you?”\n\nHe said he was diabetic and couldn't touch it. I answered, “But you still look at it. Smart.” Then I explained the little conversation we had just had.\n\nThe cookies gave us something in common. The answer gave me something to respond to. I hadn't known what he was going to say when I approached him.\n\nThat is why [actual conversations](/stuttering-practice-in-real-conversations) remained part of my practice. I had to learn to ask, hear, respond and trust myself when the words were not written down. I still blocked and missed things while learning.\n\n## Where reading fitted in my work\n\nThe private reading gave me a chance to work with my voice before the encounter. The encounter asked me to use that voice with another person and respond to them. I spent time on both.\n\nWhen I explain reading aloud, that is the purpose I want to make clear: finding a little confidence in how I sounded, then going out to use my speech. It was one part of a much larger effort.\n\n[Being asked to read a fixed passage in class](/reading-aloud-in-front-of-people) was a separate experience in my life. I tell that story too. Here I am describing what I chose to do privately as preparation for speaking.\n\n## Related answers\n\n- [How can I prepare without scripting every word?](/preparing-without-scripting)\n\n[Find your question](/questions)\n",
  "relative_link_base": "https://usedtostutter.com/reading-aloud-and-stuttering",
  "sections": [
    {
      "id": "reading-content",
      "heading": null,
      "heading_level": null,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reading-aloud-and-stuttering#reading-content",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "I read out loud to find some confidence in my own voice before I went out. I didn't have to feel confident already. Finding what confidence sounded like for me was part of the work.\n\nIn a conversation with Don, I described looking for a cadence, a pattern, a flow. Something that sounded a little more confident. I wanted the feeling of, hey, this is my flow. I'm talking good for me.\n\nThat was something I wanted to hear from myself before I walked into another speaking situation.\n\n",
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    {
      "id": "read-something-you-can-get-into",
      "heading": "Read something you can get into",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reading-aloud-and-stuttering#read-something-you-can-get-into",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## Read something you can get into\n\nDon't read boring shit. That was how I put it. Read material you like, something you can feel passionate about. Sports, music or another subject you enjoy. I wanted to lean into it and let some excitement come through.\n\n[Enthusiasm](/enthusiasm-and-speaking-confidence) mattered because I was working with the way my voice sounded and felt. I wanted energy and interest in what I was saying. Simply knowing the words on the page wasn't the whole purpose.\n\nIn that call, I kept coming back to the idea of hearing myself talk well. I was looking for a little confidence I could recognize in my own delivery.\n\n",
      "source_span_sha256": "4001fd8dc3059e09b84c89b812413255e64a2ec00f6aa5c1bb8d8ae14d64bae6"
    },
    {
      "id": "what-came-before-the-grocery-store-conversation",
      "heading": "What came before the grocery-store conversation?",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reading-aloud-and-stuttering#what-came-before-the-grocery-store-conversation",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## What came before the grocery-store conversation?\n\nIn the grocery recording, I explained three things I did before getting there. Reading aloud was one. I also thought about a time when my speech had been a little better, even if it hadn't been perfect. I wanted to remember how that felt.\n\nThe other part was music: something I could play in the car or while walking that changed my emotional state. Reading, a remembered experience and music were parts of how I prepared myself before going out to speak.\n\nThen I entered the store. That is where I had to do the next part.\n\n",
      "source_span_sha256": "9f894796ad6e7873ede176994163fcd7a04c2ab4206f19a1177f27de43aeb485"
    },
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      "id": "the-person-wasn-t-following-a-page",
      "heading": "The person wasn't following a page",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reading-aloud-and-stuttering#the-person-wasn-t-following-a-page",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## The person wasn't following a page\n\nI saw a man looking at cookies and commented on them. I said that if they were on sale, I was in trouble. I talked about how I used to eat junk food and asked, “how about you?”\n\nHe said he was diabetic and couldn't touch it. I answered, “But you still look at it. Smart.” Then I explained the little conversation we had just had.\n\nThe cookies gave us something in common. The answer gave me something to respond to. I hadn't known what he was going to say when I approached him.\n\nThat is why [actual conversations](/stuttering-practice-in-real-conversations) remained part of my practice. I had to learn to ask, hear, respond and trust myself when the words were not written down. I still blocked and missed things while learning.\n\n",
      "source_span_sha256": "c7f3b298a827bd8964883827fb2886e541450e6e1d4e4564ddfa1c36207d3abc"
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      "id": "where-reading-fitted-in-my-work",
      "heading": "Where reading fitted in my work",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reading-aloud-and-stuttering#where-reading-fitted-in-my-work",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## Where reading fitted in my work\n\nThe private reading gave me a chance to work with my voice before the encounter. The encounter asked me to use that voice with another person and respond to them. I spent time on both.\n\nWhen I explain reading aloud, that is the purpose I want to make clear: finding a little confidence in how I sounded, then going out to use my speech. It was one part of a much larger effort.\n\n[Being asked to read a fixed passage in class](/reading-aloud-in-front-of-people) was a separate experience in my life. I tell that story too. Here I am describing what I chose to do privately as preparation for speaking.\n\n",
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    {
      "id": "related-answers",
      "heading": "Related answers",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/reading-aloud-and-stuttering#related-answers",
      "role": "navigation",
      "source_markdown": "## Related answers\n\n- [How can I prepare without scripting every word?](/preparing-without-scripting)\n",
      "source_span_sha256": "8a124de67db923c2a1b9d54199ddf8cf40881934a5968fdbfd0b0b9a79ec132a"
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      "id": "come-in-taller",
      "title": "COME IN TALLER",
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