halted speech

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I have a problem in which I sometimes have to stop in mid-sentence to search for the correct or appropriate word before I can continue speaking. I cannot help this, and because it looks so awkward I think it is a major reason for my social difficulties. I was wondering if anyone had the same or similar problem?

Yes.

It was bad enough that they sent me to speech therapy when I was in 2nd grade, thinking that I was stuttering. They determined that I did not have a stutter, that I was pronouncing all the words correctly, and my reading ability was better than other 2nd graders. They told my mother, "he just needs to slow down and think about what he is going to say before he tries to say it."

The mental concept of what I wanted to say was there and ready to be blurted out before I had worked out the sentence structure and made a decision about how to phrase it. So, slow down and have your brain phrase the sentence before your mouth does.

As I get older I'm finding the problem again. But I'm thinking it is old age now. I "know" the word I want to use, but it will just "disappear" from the index. Just last week I was talking about those who make a religious conversion and the word "proselyte" disappeared from my mind in mid-sentence. Very embarrassing to me.

Yes. My ex-husband used to say I talked like William Shatner, what with all the dramatic pauses.

Yes I get this all the time. It is awkward and embarrassing. Only this morning I couldn't think of the word that describes a collection of roads that join together at a crossing. Of course I meant "junction" but it took someone else to tell me. I get anxious and start to stutter too which doesn't help.

Another problem I have is that if I keep the flow of my words going at an even pace I do one of 3 things: say the wrong word in the right context, say a word that doesn't fit the context of what I'm saying, or mix around the initial letters of two words and create new ones (i.e. peanut butter would be "beanut putter")

I do that alot too, especially when I'm nervous, and drawing a blank is only guaranteed to make me more nervous than before. So I just grab the first word I can think of that sounds close to what I want to say (or not) and throw it in there. It usually gets a laugh.

Jupp, but if you relax and don't force it you will find the words or find simpler words.

I used to stand there in mid sentence:
"ermmmmm"
"what is it called...?" (the person would stand there look at me with the face "how should I know")
"what is the name of that again..."

relax and don't speak fast and it will become better, and breathing is important, steady.

i get it a lot. so much, i sometimes dont even bother with the filler-"hmmmmm" and just go silent, w a stupid face.

i bet it confuses the hell out of people, but i cant care anymore

ahh yeah, the sudden silence. I sometimes don't even bother as well so I just stop talking and smile. People who know me will understand people who don't will be a bit surprised and then I leave the floor to them, not bothering to continue with my point. Or rephrase it in my head and then get back to it after the person is finished talking.

I have that kind of moment sometimes, usually there comes out a stream of nonsense, of similar sounding or meaning words to the one I can't recall properly. Then I take a deep breath and start over. Some of my friends find it quite funny.

Maybe it looks differently when we do it, but a lot of people run into the same thing. What is absolutely hilarious is finding a way that someone has come to use to buy themselves thinking time... I hear a lot of "uh" people at church in Sunday School lessons and the like, or the "y'know" people. I think they don't realize they do it. I don't know how they could go on if they did.

I find I talk a blue streak because I am trying to find the exact right way to say something, thus resulting in telling somebody the same thing about five different times, a little different in the phrasing each time. It's because I'm afraid they'll move forward with the conversation before I've said it right. It's pretty frustrating for the listener so I don't get into conversations much anymore (I have a list of reasons for that, though). I have finally learned to channel this trait now that I'm working on my fiction again. I can't write it five different ways and pick the best one! Whee! Freedom!

Where my speaking is like yours is when I pause, apparently longer than I realize, because someone starts to take their "turn" just as I'm completing my sentence. I also find the next thought I want to express about the time they're speaking and say for fear I'll forget by the time they stop talking. The ugly result is that I dominate conversations unfairly. Again, one of the reasons I avoid conversation. I've never successfully reigned these traits in. I can control them in small, isolated conversations. But that's not very satisfying, so I write. Not surprisingly, I write mostly conversations. The other parts take a little more application on my part. And I am sincerely struggling with plot. Danged executive dysfunction.

yeah i do that too thats why i always say that thing
i always had that problem i dont use hard words cuz i dont kno what they mean.

I get that all the time.

My son does this a lot.

I do that loads, it's really annoying, it's funny though because one of my friends do that aswel so our conversations always take forever lol.