Here is a silly analogy. Suppose the on-off switch on your TV set stops working, but you find that if you whack the top of your set it will come on. Is the TV "fixed"?
There won't be a "cure" for stuttering until we understand the precise cause, presumably some very specific physical or chemical problem in the brain. In the meanwhile it is often possible to find "workarounds" in the form of speech techniques and/or attitudinal adjustments, that allows a stutterer to communicate effectively, sometimes to the point where the stutter can become undetectable. Still the PWS needs to remain aware one's speech patterns and exercise effective control. A "naturally fluent" speaker does not need to do that. In that sense the stutter is not "cured" any more than the TV set being whacked to be turned on has been fixed...
It may also be possible that the controls that allow for fluent speech become "second nature" and no longer require a special effort. I think of this situation as possibly having built "alternative pathways" in the brain that now allow for a feeling of normalcy in speech production. I feel I am at this stage. I don't think about my stutter any more, by any measure I am viewed as fluent. Still I am caught by occasional "surprise blocks" I am usually able to get out of, quickly and without the listener having noticed any problem.
I know that my approach to achieving fluency has been sound, and I have written about it in my audio course, but I must also acknowledge that the results may well depend on the original degree of severity. It is also possible that "developmental stuttering" may include a yet unrecognized family of different stuttering causes, with similar symptoms, but different developmental trajectories through life, including one that tapers off with old age. I have known people who have stuttered severely throughout their life and some who have improved considerably, apparently even without therapy. We just don't know enough yet.
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