Intro & how to force yourself to stop when you block!

[Tara Connolly]

Hi all
My name is Tara , age 42 from Ireland .
I’ve had a severe stammer all my life , and would love to be able to do what a lot of people on this course can .. STOP STUTTERING !!!
I read aloud a lot for 4 weeks and done 3 mind training a day , I had 3 very good phone calls to strangers but when I’m outside asking for things in shops it’s a nightmare . I had a good few bad incidents , got exhausted from all the reading and mind trainings , kind of had a little melt down , so give it all a break for 2 weeks and now I’m back at the course again .
My main problem at the moment is stopping when I fall of stutterers cliff .
When I don’t stop in my comfort zone at home I feel so bad and disappointed with myself .
Its become such a habit for so long , it’s so difficult .
Anyone have advice on this ?

Thank you all so much and we’ll done to all this PWSS. I applaud you all ????????????????????????

[John Kerr]

Hi Tanya,
Welcome to WSSA.
I too had a severe stutter and Lee’s book, using the crutches, watching coaching videos etc has been the only thing that has helped me.
I host practice meetings on Zoom on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:30pm to 8:30pm. If you’d like to come, give me your email address.

To remove anxiety when talking to strangers, try to speak in a softer voice, speak slowly (extreme pronunciation), and most importantly insert a full stop every three to five words or so.
Another tip…avoid eye contact when talking to a stranger and look at another part of their face. I sometimes look at their mouth or ear. The other person won’t know the difference ????. Something to try until feeling more comfortable using eye contact.
One of the coaches of WSSA, called Javier is excellent at offering advice in greater detail.
Welcome again to WSSA and I hope you benefit from the program.
P.S
Why not come to a SAM meeting on Saturday? You’ll learn a lot from Lee, the coaches and all the PWSS.

John
Scotland

[John Kerr]

Sorry!…I just realized your name is Tara ????

[Javier]

Hi John! Thanks for the compliments!

And Tara, welcome to WSSA! This is the right place if you want to stop stuttering. My name is Javier, I used to be a severe and very heavy blocker. But I stopped stuttering a bit more than 2 years ago, and I’m also one of the coaches here.

The advice that John gave you is very good!

I don’t know if you are a Free Trial member or if you are a Stuttering member. I am asking you this because if you haven’t watched the video lessons and some of the +1000 videos of coaching sessions, you should! The video lessons are extremely helpful and they’ll help you understand Lee’s books a lot better:one thing is to read how to do something, and a completely different one is to see someone show you how to do it. The same applies to the videos of coaching sessions. You have a lot of filters available to find the most suitable videos for you, and most likely the advice that I or the rest of the coaches give to one of our students will also be helpful for you.
But of course, the best thing is to get private coaching, as the advice we will be giving you will be tailored for your case.

About falling from stutterer’s cliff, most likely (without knowing you), the best Crutch is Crutch 11. Make sure you speak slightly slower (as if you were explaining something difficult to understand to somebody), and inserting pauses every few words. Make these pauses a bit longer than you’d normally do. Insert them every 5 words or so, maximum. Where you insert the full stop doesn’t matter, trust me. Use hand gestures, make sure you pronounce clearly all your syllables, gesticulate, be expressive.
But the most important thing: FULL STOPS. Make sure you really insert them. CLOSE YOUR MOUTH COMPLETELY when doing it. Focus on all these things, forget about the words.
You might view the full stops as something frightening, as you might think that if you insert a pause, you’ll get stuck on the next word. The reality is that the longer your sentences, the more nervous you’ll get, and the harder it will be for you to speak fluently. I’m asking you to do the exact opposite. It is logical to expect opposite results, right?
And even if you’re going to have trouble with the next word, you have Crutches 1-8 to beat it easily. One of my favourites is Crutch 4, for example.

I hope you find this helpful. If not , please do let me know.

Send me an email if you prefer: [email protected]

[Anonymous]

Excellent advice from Javier, as usual! Tara, this is my most important piece of information I give to all my students – when encountering a block – JUST STOP SPEAKING!!!

I know, I know – EASY FOR YOU TO SAY, LEAH!

But it really is very easy, once you master it. How do you master this? By being a speech cop. So, every single time you encounter a block, acknowledge it, stop speaking, take a 2 count pause and start speaking again USING a crutch.

If you sign up as a stutter plan member, you will receive 3 free sessions and you will be assigned to a coach who will TEACH you how to do this! I was in a session yesterday with one of my students who did not know how to use a crutch and by the end of me teaching it to her, she was giggling and saying how much she was enjoying it.

All it takes is knowing HOW to do it, practice, and time! That is it! And as a bonus – it will even become enjoyable after a couple of weeks.

Let me know if this answers your question or if there is anything else I can answer for you!

In fluency,

Leah

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