Speech Therapist for Public Speaking
Public speaking can be a stressful experience for many people. Some estimates are that as many as 85% of people have some fear of public speaking; in fact, it is many people's greatest fear.
Although it's almost impossible to eliminate speech anxiety, there are many techniques that you can use to deal with it and use it to your benefit.
Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can help people sound more confident and become powerful public speakers. SLPs can show a person how to relax and speak confidently to individuals, small groups, or a large audience resulting in better communication skills.
Public Speaking Anxiety
When a person talks in front of a group, they may feel embarrassed to speak aloud. They worry that they will make a mistake, look inferior to others, or be judged in a negative light.
Often, the speaker avoids eye contact because they do not like the feeling of being in the spotlight or being watched. Public speaking can leave a person feeling panicked and uncomfortable.
Physical symptoms such as trembling, sweating, a racing heart rate, difficulty breathing, shaky voice, clammy hands, and fast speech rate may also occur.
It might not be easy to effectively communicate the intended message when someone is scared to speak because of these physical and emotional symptoms.
Both experienced, and novice speakers experience speech anxiety. Those who look confident and relaxed have likely just mastered strategies to manage their nerves when speaking.
How Can Speech Therapy Help With Public Speaking?
Many people often think that speech therapists only help people with clinical speech or language problems. However, that is not always the case.
The most qualified public speaking consultant is a speaking coach who has a master's degree in speech pathology- in other words, an SLP.
It is natural for SLPs to work with individuals who would like to improve their public speaking skills. A speech-language pathologist has a comprehensive understanding of the anatomy and physiology of speech and extensive knowledge of phonetics.
SLPs are well-versed in verbal and non-verbal communication skills, essential skills for workplace growth. Some of the principles that SLPs have expert training in include voice, grammar, vocabulary, and articulation development.
With an SLP’s experience and knowledge, they can quickly determine each person's unique requirements and the main areas to concentrate on during public speaking anxiety treatment.
With public speaking therapy, you can overcome your speech anxiety and feel more confident speaking to large and small groups of people.
How to Get Over Stage Fright
Here are some ways that a speech-language pathologist can help you with your public speaking skills:
Body Language
The key to conveying confidence and building rapport is using non-verbal communication cues, such as body language and posture.
When experiencing stage fright, you may clench your hands into fists, hunch forward, and cross your arms. This behavior can show the listener that you feel uncomfortable during the conversation.
Instead, try to keep your hands open and relaxed by not rubbing them together or holding them firmly on each other.
Gestures
When speaking, you want to center your gestures in the mid-chest region to the waist or rib cage area. You don't want to gesture outside of the rib cage area because it will make you look too excited, nervous, or uncomfortable with the topic.
If you overuse hand gestures, your listeners may not focus on what you say because they will be distracted by your gestures. Overuse of gestures makes the conversation less effective and can cause the listener to lose interest more quickly.
Posture
Good posture is a crucial element to successful public speaking. When engaging in public speaking, stand straight with shoulders up and back and your feet shoulder-width apart. Face your audience as much as possible.
Eye Contact
Maintaining good eye contact makes a big difference in establishing a personal connection between you and your listener. When you look someone in the eye, your audience feels that your attention is on them, so they will be more likely to listen to you.
Facial Expressions
Facial expressions, much like gestures, can also enhance your presentation skills. Your facial expressions will reveal a lot about your feelings, expressions, and emotions. A smile is a great way to start a speech, as it will immediately set your audience at ease and convey confidence.
Staying Calm and Breathing
Breathing is the most critical (and most often overlooked) tool in public speaking. When you're nervous, you breathe rapidly and shallowly. Your voice may quiver, and you may lose control of the pitch and tone of your voice. This sends a signal to the audience that you're not confident. Slow and measured breathing is a sign that you're in control.
A speech pathologist can teach breathing techniques to get you through challenging moments.
Diaphragmatic breathing, or "belly breathing," is centering your breath in your abdomen rather than your neck and shoulders. When belly breathing, you actively pull the diaphragm down with each inhalation to help the lungs fill more efficiently. This action will help create more power in your voice and reduce tension in your neck and shoulders resulting in a richer, smoother tone of voice.
Finessing Presentation Delivery
Speech-language pathologists can help you deliver a clear message to keep your audience engaged.
Speech therapists will use their expertise in communication sciences to help you with the following presentation skills:
Identifying the core message of your topic before your discussion begins
Eliminating any information that does not support the core message
Creating a strong presentation outline to keep you focused throughout your discussion
Keeping your message simple, eliminating distracting filler words and other unnecessary words.
Using language and jargon to keep your audience engaged
Bringing the presentation to life through verbal and non-verbal cues
Fine-tuning grammar
Using proper grammar helps learners organize words and messages and make them meaningful and effective. Speech therapists are trained to teach grammar to students at all levels, so it is natural for an SLP to help those looking to fine-tune grammar skills for public speaking.
Goals are usually addressed during conversation or while practicing your presentation rather than in isolated sentences. This method will help you focus on the target grammatical feature and respond naturally.
Improving Vocal Health
Staying hydrated is essential to keep your voice healthy. Water intake is critical to the voice's ability to function correctly.
Follow these guidelines to keep hydration levels high and ensure effective communication:
Drink water all day long. Don't wait till you're thirsty.
Reduce your intake of alcoholic beverages, coffee, caffeinated teas, and soft drinks.
If you live in a dry environment, use a humidifier.
Keep a bottle of water on hand while giving a presentation.
Before delivering a speech, drink a lot of water.
Increasing Speech Clarity
Effective communication and clear pronunciation are essential for success in business, academics, and many other parts of life. While variations in communication styles (pronunciation, word choice, vocal quality, and grammar) from different geographic locations are celebrated and embraced, they can sometimes lead to communication breakdowns.
Accent modification training (also known as "accent reduction," "accent softening," or "accent neutralization") is a program designed for native and non-native speakers of English.
Accent training isn't intended to eliminate or erase accents in non-native English speakers. Instead, it promotes clarity of speech to boost self-assurance by teaching the phonetics, stress, and intonation patterns of Standard American English.
Focusing on the clarity of sounds and the words you produce, whether they originate from an accent or simple misarticulations, is an essential skill to master to be understood and sound confident.
How To Improve Your Communication Skills Now
Speech therapy is an effective and efficient means to lessen anxiety with public speaking while also improving your communication abilities.
Practice sets good timing for the presentation delivery and reduces nerves. Working with a public speaking therapist allows you to practice public speaking in a safe and non-critical environment.
Public speaking therapy sessions will help you release your anxiety and accept yourself as a confident speaker. They'll give immediate feedback, pointers, and techniques so you can reclaim control of your fears and become a more confident communicator.
About the Author
Allison Geller is a speech-language pathologist (SLP) and the owner of Connected Speech Pathology. She obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Florida in Speech-Language Pathology. Allison has practiced speech therapy in a number of settings including telepractice, acute care, outpatient rehabilitation, and private practice. She has worked extensively with individuals across the lifespan including toddlers, preschoolers, school-aged children, and adults. She specializes in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of a variety of communication disorders including receptive/expressive language disorders, articulation disorders, voice disorders, fluency disorders, brain injury, and swallowing disorders.
Allison served as the clinical coordinator of research in aphasia in the Neurological Institute at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. She is on the Board of Directors for the Corporate Speech Pathology Network (CORSPAN), a Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) certified clinician, and a proud Family Empowerment Scholarship/Step-Up For Students provider. Allison is passionate about delivering high quality-effective treatment remotely because it’s convenient and easy to access. What sets us apart from other online speech therapy options is—Allison takes great care to hire the very best SLPs from all over the country.
