While speaking, you take sudden pauses or find it difficult to pronounce some words or repeat the initial letters of words, it will make you conscious. You will be more alert. You feel like being judged or laughed at, just like you have seen it happening to others who go through the same problem.
Spasht is an initiative that focuses on clarity of speech.
“Currently, we are focusing on people, who have the stammering problem. The basic USP of Spasht is: the people get to learn the therapy from a person who had stammered and has overcome the stammering.”
Bhadrakshi Tanna is the founder of Spasht. He had had stammering and he knows how to overcome it. He had decided to help the people facing the same problem.
Here, Bhadrakshi talks about the methods with which he helps others overcome the problem and various aspects:
What was the reason behind the origin of this organization?
There are millions of people who stammer and undergo some or the other speech therapy to overcome stammering. But, hardly a few really succeed in doing so. Thus, there is a need of doing something different. I am not a doctor, but since I have stammered and have overcome it, I know what stammering is and what it takes to overcome the same. With my experience, I want to enable more and more people to talk with clarity.
Tell us something about your founders.
Spasht has been founded by me i.e. Bhadrakshi Tanna. I am a Commerce Graduate and have done PGDM in Retail Management. I got stammering at the 5 and thus have grown up with stammering at every phase of life. Professionally I have worked with top Brands like IBM Daksh, Nirlep, Future Group & Snapdeal.
On a personal front, I am 35 yrs old and thus have an experience with stammering of 30 years. I am married and have a 4-year-old kid. I understand the psychological effect of stammering in one’s personal, professional & social life. So when I consult someone, I can very well relate to their state of mind, and the other person can also relate to me better, as he/she knows that I have stammered too.
How was the initial response you got from the people?
The response of people has been good. The idea of a stammerer, helping other stammerers to overcome their stammering is well accepted.
What is the difference between stammering and stuttering?
As such there is no difference in stammering and stuttering; 2 different words for the same thing.
Give us some idea about your methods of working and the tasks you conduct.
Our approach is a wholesome approach. Earlier I mentioned that there is a need to do something different and hence along with speech therapy, we also work on managing our mind.
My therapy concentrates on regularising breathing and speaking while one is exhaling. To achieve this smoothness, the therapy is broken in various modules as described below –
Consciously observing the activity of breathing. While doing deep breathing, we consciously realize that our breathing is smoothly going in and smoothly coming out.
Vocal exercise — Here we practice reciting of words in an elongated way i.e. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaple, caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaareful. We practice about 50–75 words in 1 session. The application here is that we consciously make an effort to pronounce these words as soon as we start to exhale.
Voice Modulation — Here we do the above exercise in a different pitch. In our regular talking, we have to speak different pitch i.e. shout, normal, whisper.
Slow Reading — After practicing pronouncing of words while exhaling, we start doing a slow reading. In slow reading, we practice of read-only 4–5 words in 1 breath. Again the idea is to consciously make to effort to speak while breathing out.
Normal Reading — After practicing reading of 4–5 words in a breath, we move to regular speed i.e. 7–8 words per breathing.
Storytelling, normal discussion — After learning and applying the technique to reading, we now start using the technique will be interacting.
While practicing therapy, we also concentrate on influencing the mind. We do that by Positive thinking, creative visualization, and positive affirmations.
“Stammering is in the mind. So any method that can help one in influencing their mind to overcome stammering is a successful method.”
How do you hire people at the organization or are they volunteers?
Currently, Spasht is a one-man show, i.e. me only.
How do you generalize stammering medically?
I am not a doctor and so I am not too sure how to answer this question. But since I have experienced stammering, all I can say is that stammering is a due to emotions like (Fear, Anxiety. Nervousness etc), hence it has nothing to do with biology.
We often see or hear about the incidents of children who stammer being bullied. What do you think should be done to spread enough awareness for that?
This is actually very tricky. Awareness of stammering should be done in such a way that people should not take a stammerer as a specially-abled person. A stammerer is a normal person.
Is it caused by birth or it can occur lately in adults too? If yes, then what are the reasons behind its occurrence after a certain age?
I am yet to come across someone or hear about someone who stammered from birth. Stammering can happen to any person at any age. The reason behind the occurrence of stammering is (Nervousness, Anxiety, Fear), which kind of disturb the confidence of the person and hence effects speaking.
If a child is stammering, then how he/she should be informed that their speech is being interrupted and they are not able to speak as fluently as the kids of their age?
I personally believe, a child goes through various phases of development. Till a child is 10 years old, it’s difficult to assume that he/she will continue to stammer or not. I personally gift speech therapy to kids above the age of 12. It’s an important to understand that therapy is not a medicine that will work on its own. One has to consciously drive it with them and apply in their regular speech. Thus, a maturity level is required for a person to consciously apply the therapy in their day to day speaking.
How should parents comfort their kids while making them aware of it?
Honestly, this is something that I have not thought of.
In a recent movie, Jagga Jassos, there was a concept of stammering. It shows the possibility that even if the person stammers while talking, he can be fluently singing. What is the scientific reason behind it?
Music and the effect of music are beyond the reach of science. I can only say that it’s a natural power of music, the person never stammers while singing.
What are your future projects in this field?
At the moment it’s only stammering. Haven’t really thought if I want to delve into something else.
Your message to the world:
“Just Chill! If there is a problem, accept the problem and find the solution. A lot of people, due to their ego, don’t accept the problems. Think positively; give positive affirmations and things will be good for you.”
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