{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "id": "CC-110",
  "title": "What am I promising when I share my stuttering story?",
  "topic": "Choosing help, approaches and resources",
  "author": {
    "name": "Craig Coffee",
    "id": "https://usedtostutter.com/craig-coffee#person"
  },
  "canonical_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/evaluating-stuttering-treatment-claims",
  "access": "public",
  "content_kind": "author_published_article",
  "context_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/about-this-material",
  "source_sha256": "967e387a37ca049a5529213633348ed8f166e8f92db748463d5f92176a6244a1",
  "source_markdown": "# What am I promising when I share my stuttering story?\n\nBy [Craig Coffee](/craig-coffee)\n\nI'm promising to show and explain what I did in the real world. What I noticed, how I started talking, what happened next and what I learned while working on my speech.\n\nThat is the kind of help I wanted when I was struggling. I wanted someone to make the work visible.\n\n## Why the explanation matters to me\n\nI met people who told me they used to stutter. They sounded great, and I wanted to know what had happened. They couldn't explain it in a way I could use.\n\nThat was frustrating. I felt they had got through something I was still stuck in, but couldn't show me a direction. I had to keep looking and trying to find my own way.\n\n## What you can actually examine\n\nIn the grocery recording, I explain what I did beforehand, see someone looking at cookies, ask about him and respond when he says he cannot eat them. In the market walk, I point out a missed trash can, start a football conversation and ask about somebody I have met before.\n\nThose are particular speaking situations. The useful question is what I did inside them. Why did I start there? What did the other person's answer give me? When did I keep talking, and when did the exchange end?\n\n## The work included failure\n\nI spent years studying ideas and taking them into classrooms, dates, work calls and other situations. I blocked. I wasn't quick enough. An idea didn't always do what I hoped it would do.\n\nI've also said plainly that I am one person describing what worked for me, and that I don't know whether another person's experience will be the same. People stutter differently and have different experiences.\n\nThat is part of the account I want to give alongside my confidence in what changed my own life.\n\n## How I wanted someone to learn beside me\n\nWhen Don and I discussed practicing together, I wanted him to watch an approach, hear me explain it and then try something himself. The time before and after the encounter could be valuable because we would have a specific situation to talk about.\n\nThat was a proposed outing. It describes the kind of teaching I wanted to do, not evidence that the visit happened or that it produced a particular result.\n\n## Tell me where the explanation is missing\n\nWhen I shared my writing, I asked for more than what somebody liked. I especially wanted to know where they needed clarification, where they were thinking they didn't really get it.\n\nThat gives me a more useful question to answer. It points to the part of the explanation that needs work.\n\nI am putting out the material I would have wanted: the ordinary encounters, the mistakes, the things I tried and the way I understood them. [The demonstrations](/stuttering-demonstrations) and [the practice account](/stuttering-exercises-for-adults) let you look at those details for yourself.\n\n## Related answers\n\n- [What should you look for in my speaking videos?](/stuttering-demonstrations)\n- [How long did it take me to get the speech I wanted?](/how-long-my-stuttering-journey-took)\n- [Do I ever stutter now?](/do-i-ever-stutter-now)\n\n[Find your question](/questions)\n",
  "relative_link_base": "https://usedtostutter.com/evaluating-stuttering-treatment-claims",
  "sections": [
    {
      "id": "reading-content",
      "heading": null,
      "heading_level": null,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/evaluating-stuttering-treatment-claims#reading-content",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "I'm promising to show and explain what I did in the real world. What I noticed, how I started talking, what happened next and what I learned while working on my speech.\n\nThat is the kind of help I wanted when I was struggling. I wanted someone to make the work visible.\n\n",
      "source_span_sha256": "70297e3ac62451ee619d73d04dc92051470c857daa187301e3159b850d524631"
    },
    {
      "id": "why-the-explanation-matters-to-me",
      "heading": "Why the explanation matters to me",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/evaluating-stuttering-treatment-claims#why-the-explanation-matters-to-me",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## Why the explanation matters to me\n\nI met people who told me they used to stutter. They sounded great, and I wanted to know what had happened. They couldn't explain it in a way I could use.\n\nThat was frustrating. I felt they had got through something I was still stuck in, but couldn't show me a direction. I had to keep looking and trying to find my own way.\n\n",
      "source_span_sha256": "dcc6a3dbe283177f2216911b01f5e07659837539f6009d03d1b6ccc57856dfeb"
    },
    {
      "id": "what-you-can-actually-examine",
      "heading": "What you can actually examine",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/evaluating-stuttering-treatment-claims#what-you-can-actually-examine",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## What you can actually examine\n\nIn the grocery recording, I explain what I did beforehand, see someone looking at cookies, ask about him and respond when he says he cannot eat them. In the market walk, I point out a missed trash can, start a football conversation and ask about somebody I have met before.\n\nThose are particular speaking situations. The useful question is what I did inside them. Why did I start there? What did the other person's answer give me? When did I keep talking, and when did the exchange end?\n\n",
      "source_span_sha256": "7aa1def1146c2848e9a50d3862132e2563cfc01d9fedcf215f3f3ceb5e82f9cd"
    },
    {
      "id": "the-work-included-failure",
      "heading": "The work included failure",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/evaluating-stuttering-treatment-claims#the-work-included-failure",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## The work included failure\n\nI spent years studying ideas and taking them into classrooms, dates, work calls and other situations. I blocked. I wasn't quick enough. An idea didn't always do what I hoped it would do.\n\nI've also said plainly that I am one person describing what worked for me, and that I don't know whether another person's experience will be the same. People stutter differently and have different experiences.\n\nThat is part of the account I want to give alongside my confidence in what changed my own life.\n\n",
      "source_span_sha256": "a645256dd92c1ca1e79a4ad569771dc4fc3b2e5a9ab92a63900d9d2f1cb39f53"
    },
    {
      "id": "how-i-wanted-someone-to-learn-beside-me",
      "heading": "How I wanted someone to learn beside me",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/evaluating-stuttering-treatment-claims#how-i-wanted-someone-to-learn-beside-me",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## How I wanted someone to learn beside me\n\nWhen Don and I discussed practicing together, I wanted him to watch an approach, hear me explain it and then try something himself. The time before and after the encounter could be valuable because we would have a specific situation to talk about.\n\nThat was a proposed outing. It describes the kind of teaching I wanted to do, not evidence that the visit happened or that it produced a particular result.\n\n",
      "source_span_sha256": "1314fe041cb0054cc0b866cb93d8ab40e75d24db6c4d22d5c1bd47507d7cb00e"
    },
    {
      "id": "tell-me-where-the-explanation-is-missing",
      "heading": "Tell me where the explanation is missing",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/evaluating-stuttering-treatment-claims#tell-me-where-the-explanation-is-missing",
      "role": "source_context",
      "source_markdown": "## Tell me where the explanation is missing\n\nWhen I shared my writing, I asked for more than what somebody liked. I especially wanted to know where they needed clarification, where they were thinking they didn't really get it.\n\nThat gives me a more useful question to answer. It points to the part of the explanation that needs work.\n\nI am putting out the material I would have wanted: the ordinary encounters, the mistakes, the things I tried and the way I understood them. [The demonstrations](/stuttering-demonstrations) and [the practice account](/stuttering-exercises-for-adults) let you look at those details for yourself.\n\n",
      "source_span_sha256": "a2f5f785e31fc624932f38323d6a4855ded52e8bc57e4c2ea2d2f43ef6044f40"
    },
    {
      "id": "related-answers",
      "heading": "Related answers",
      "heading_level": 2,
      "citation_url": "https://usedtostutter.com/evaluating-stuttering-treatment-claims#related-answers",
      "role": "navigation",
      "source_markdown": "## Related answers\n\n- [What should you look for in my speaking videos?](/stuttering-demonstrations)\n- [How long did it take me to get the speech I wanted?](/how-long-my-stuttering-journey-took)\n- [Do I ever stutter now?](/do-i-ever-stutter-now)\n",
      "source_span_sha256": "c56d02f1a53080b0d9d81b52487c46071dd83e3d5fdfa3228125950a3ba70cb4"
    }
  ],
  "related_book_sections": []
}