Easy Onset and Light Contact Stuttering Strategies by Peachie Speechie

>> Hi, I'm Meredith
from Peachie Speechie.

I'm a speech
language pathologist

and today I'm going
to talk to you

about two fluency strategies;

easy onset and
light contact.

If you stutter,
fluency strategies

are things you can do to

help make talking easier.

The two strategies in
this video help you

have reduced tension
and smoother speech.

Before we jump
into strategies,

let's take a moment to
talk about tension.

Tension is the amount of

tightness in your
muscles when you talk.

For example, if
I'm going to say

the word ball and

I say it with
lots of tension,

it might sound like ball.

Did you see that tension?

Did you see the tension in

my lips and my face?

If I say it
without tension,

it's loose and
relaxed, like ball.

Let's talk about
the first strategy,

easy onset.

This can also be called

easy starts because you're

starting your speech
with relaxed muscles,

a little slow stretch
at the beginning,

and you're releasing
some air before you

turn on your
voice to get that

forward air flowing.

Now we're going to do
some examples together.

I'm going to say
a word regularly,

and then I'm going to
say it again using

easy onset so you can
hear the difference.

Then you're going to

practice with easy onset.

Our first word is nacho

because I have a
nacho on my shirt.

Are you ready?

Nacho. Nacho. Now, you

try with easy
onset. How was it?

Were your muscles relaxed,

and your speech
was smooth?

Let's try another one.

Remember, we're
going to start

with relaxed muscles,

and we're going to
let out some air

to get that flow going.

Our next word is yogurt.

Yogurt. Now, you try.

Great. Now we're going

to practice some
phrases together.

We're practicing
easy onset.

So you're going to

have loose,
relaxed muscles.

We're going to stretch out

the beginning of
just a little bit,

and we're going to
let that air flow.

We're going to release
a little bit of

air first. Are you ready?

Our first phrase
is nacho cheese.

Listen to me, and
then you try.

Nacho cheese.
Now, you try.

Our next phrase
is yogurt cup.

Yogurt cup.

Now, you try.
How did you do?

Our next phrase
is open it.

Open it.

Now, you try.
How did you do?

Did you have
relaxed muscles

and you started
that airflow?

Our last phrase
is thank you.

Thank you.

Now, you try. Great job

and thank you for
practicing with me.

You did such an awesome
job with easy onset.

Now we're moving on
to our next strategy,

which is called
light contact.

In order to do this one,

you're going to
need to know

what your
articulators are.

Articulators is just
a big word that means

the different parts
of your mouth

that you use and
move when you talk.

Your articulators
are your tongue,

lips, and teeth.

When you use
light contact,

you're going to be
very gentle when you

put the parts
of your mouth

together to make sounds.

You don't want a lot of
tension and pressure.

You want it to
be very gentle

and touch very lightly
like a feather.

For example, if I'm

going to say the
word muffin,

I don't want to have a
lot of tension and do

a hard contact
when I press

my lips together,
like muffin.

That was too tense. I want

to have a light contact,

a gentle touch,
like muffin.

Or if I wanted to
say the word fish,

I wouldn't want
to bite my lip

very hard, like fish.

That was too hard
of a contact.

I want a light contact,

very gentle, like fish.

Now we're going
to practice using

light contacts together.

I'm going to say a word,

I'm going to say it

again using light contact,

and then you're going
to practice using

light contact after
me. Are you ready?

Our first word is bus.

Bus. Now, you
try. Great job.

Our next word is farm.

Farm. Now, you
try. Great job.

I think you had really
nice light contact.

Now we're going to
practice a few phrases

together using
light contact.

Remember, be very gentle

and light when you touch

your articulators
together.

Our first phrase
is bus ride.

Bus ride. Now, you try.

Great job. The next
phrase is farm animals.

Farm animals.
Now, you try.

I bet you did a great
job with light contact.

The next one is
pizza sauce.

Pizza sauce.

Now, you try. Great job.

Our last phrase
is baby shark.

Do do do do do.

Baby shark do do do.

Just kidding. We're not
going to be singing.

I'm going to say it
with light contact,

and you say it after me.

Baby shark. You try.

Great job. Thanks for
practicing with me.

So you can see that easy

onset and light
contact are

similar because
they're both

strategies that
help reduce

your tension when
you're speaking.

So lots of people
use them together.

So you can have nice
relaxed muscles,

start that airflow
going and touch

your articulators
together very lightly,

and that's going to
help make your speech

smoother and easier.

It's important
that you know

that you are not
expected to use

these strategies on
every single word in

a sentence because

that might sound
unnatural.

So these are just
great strategies

to get you going,

to get those
sentences started

with less bumps and
smoother speech.

And as always, it's
okay to stutter.

What you have
to say matters,

and you are not alone.

There's a lot of
people out there who

stutter and you don't have

to let your speech
hold you back.

So thank you for
watching my video.

I hope you enjoyed it,
and you can check out

my other videos at
peachiespeechie.com.

To the parents and
speech language

pathologists
watching this video,

I wrote a helpful
workbook for fluency.

It's called Fluency
Therapy Activities.

You can print it and
put it in a binder,

and it has a
whole bunch of

stuff that you're
going to love.

It goes through a bunch

of different strategies.

It has lots of
practice pages,

and it'll help you work

with a child who stutters.

Pick this up at
peachiespeechie.com.