THE STAIRWAY TO ELOQUENCE - The McGuire Programme

THE STAIRWAY TO ELOQUENCE
by Geoff Johnston
Regional Director, The McGuire Programme
The goal of us all as recovering stutterers is to be effective communicators. Striving to be an eloquent
speaker as apposed to trying to be a fluent speaker, shifts the focus in a very positive manner away from
trying not to stutter which is normally our down-fall.
This edition I want to share the process that we promote on the McGuire Programme. It also applies to any
technique you may be using such as smooth speech. Keep in mind that learning a technique or using a
device such DAF/FAF is in my opinion less than 10% of the recovery task. A technique/device is only a tool
to go out in the real world and BEGIN your recovery by challenging your feared situations, words and
sounds.
The diagram below illustrates what we call the Stairway to Eloquence which is a process we work through
over many months and possibly many years. I want to briefly describe every level so that you’ll understand
the process required to overcome stuttering.
The Swamp – is where an out-of-control stutterer resides. They have no control over their thoughts, fear and
anxiety, are constantly pushing through blocks, avoiding words and situations, and generally having a
miserable time.
The next six steps set a strong foundation for ongoing recovery.
Ownership - Not only do you own your stutter (not someone else's problem), you own the responsibility to
overcome it and become a strong speaker. No one else but you is going to do this. You own it and this is the
first layer of your foundation.
Commitment - Once you've taken ownership, you have to make a personal commitment to do something
about it. It helps if you make this commitment to someone else as well.
Assertive Self-Acceptance – You have to assertively accept yourself as a recovering stutterer. This is an
active process. You cannot sit around self-accepting, but rather, go out of your way to show people you are a
stutterer doing his/her best to become a strong, eloquent speaker. This means that techniques such as
voluntary stuttering are used extensively during this phase.
Sports Mentality - Once you start seeing yourself as an athlete trying to get good at a sport, the sport of
speaking, you stop seeing yourself as a victim needing “treatment”. Athletes have to take responsibility for

their own progress. So do you. Everything that it takes to become good at a sport (or musical instrument) is
needed to become good at the sport of speaking.
Technique - As in any skilled sport, proper technique needs to be learned and drilled before one can play a
good game.
Mechanical Fluency - Until the technique is automatic and all feared words and situations are over-killed,
you should be sounding fairly mechanical and not too many words per breath. This is a higher level of selfacceptance.
You are being “mechanical” because you are a stutterer and this is what you have to do to
become a strong, eloquent speaker.
Generally, if you're having more than your share of turbulence or chronically relapsing, one or more
of your foundations layers are not solid.
Sloppy Spontaneous - You might reach the “orbit zone” before you've grooved your technique. You will feel
so free and fluent that it will be very difficult for you to be disciplined and stay in the mechanical stage. It's
much like trying to keep a baby from being born. You will use virtually no technique and will probably be
quite normally dysfluent. Congratulations! This means you have over-killed all your feared words and
situations and are truly, albeit temporarily, free from stuttering and on your way to eloquence. You will no
doubt however, take a fall from here back down to the swamp. Then you will have to rebuild your foundation,
stay longer in the mechanical stage and hopefully go to the stage called:
Disciplined Spontaneous - This is where you don't really have to think about any technique for speaking,
but the technique itself is habituated and is happening automatically. You have struck a nice balance
between discipline and spontaneity. You are, by this point, quite articulate.
Road to Self-Actualisation - For most, self-actualisation is a lifetime process. It is the process of overlapping
your “two circles” so that what others see is what they get and you are realising your potential to do
with this precious life exactly what you want to be doing and know exactly who you are in relation to the
world and other people. The important thing is to be on the road to self-actualisation. This makes things you
say very interesting to other people, and this leads to:
Eloquence - You enjoy and feel what you are saying. Other people enjoy and feel what you are saying. And
you do this with good voice tone and good articulation.
Where are you on your own individual journey to become a more effective and eloquent speaker? What do
you have to do to take your recovery to the next level on The Stairway to Eloquence?
I think the most common fault with graduates of all programmes regardless of the technique being taught is
that they don’t take the time to build a strong enough foundation. They reach a level of “fluency”, think they
have it licked and sit back on their heels. A relapse is certain in these cases. Stick at it and build a foundation
that can withstand the most severe challenges.