Diana, does your daughter still gasp for breath while talking?
One tip I read for this was to work on teaching the clutterer to "breathe at the commas." (More about this in a minute.) Also to teach correct breathing techniques in general--i.e., deep abdominal breathing. There were some books recommended; if I find the titles again I will PM them to you.
The gasping for breath is because the clutterer hasn't learned how to breathe properly while speaking--i.e., doesn't pace their breathing the same way other people do. Or, just forgets to breathe because they're concentrating on trying to figure out how to communicate all the information in their heads. One clutterer described it as trying to fit a lot of words/info into a small amount of time, so they talk fast and don't breathe, run out of air, and gasp for air at odd times, which disrupts the flow of speech.
About breathing on the commas: apparently it's common for clutterers to run right over periods and commas. I had DS8 read aloud to me last night, and sure enough, he barely stopped for periods and raced through commas even faster. I pointed this out to him and then he worked on stopping at the periods, and counting to 3 in his head before continuing. I also asked him to try and take a breath when he sees a comma. He did a good job of this for about 5 sentences and then forgot about it again. So it will take time and practice.
One stutterer wrote on the Yahoo forum that learning to breath on the commas helped him to start thinking about speaking in small phrases, instead of having to compose and spit out everything at once.
If I come across any other exercises I will post or PM to you.
GG
