The dreaded and feared first name!

[Philip Hayes]

Hello all,
My name is Phil and sometimes I have the hardest time saying ‘Phil’! Being in environments where I will most likely have to introduce myself can be very stressful. Lee’s methods are awesome and I firmly believe in his ideology on defeating satan stuttering. I know he addresses first feared words often and crutches 1-6 are geared towards achieving fluency on words that can’t change (e.g. proper nouns).

When it comes to my name Lucifer lockjaw has been quicker than me. When I have a solution I overuse it and the stuttering sneaks up again. For example, a couple months ago I started jamming the word “is” before my name and it worked like a charm. In my mind, my name was no longer Phil, it was “isphil”. But the Evil One figured out my move and rendered it ineffective.

It doesn’t help that all of my worst and most painful stutter incidents have to do with saying my name. So I know I am making a mountain out of a molehill but in my brain it is a mountain. I will say my name fine 99 times out of a 100. But the 1 time that I have an incident will wreak havoc for months!

I think what I am looking for is just any suggestions or encouragement. Maybe some ideas on how I could tweak my treatments to really target this specific issue. In all other arenas my speech has greatly improved.

Also, does anyone know how much Coach Lee charges for a cup of coffee and an hour of his time? I’m willing to travel to where he is. In my mind he’s reached celebrity status 🙂

[Gábor]

Hello, you should use more crutches for your name (even the same one could work but with different inserted words/sounds, e.g. “SooooPhilismyname”, “IiiiiiamPhil” etc.), that way stuttering can’t “outsmart” your one and only crutch you use at the moment.

[Javier]

Hi Phil! First of all, welcome to WSSA. My name is Javier, and I am a PWSS and one of the coaches here. I totally understand your problem. The thing is that you’re actually focusing too much on that feared word, and not on the Crutch you want to use. If you say “My name is Phil”, and you’re fearing “Phil”, and your mind is focusing on those 4 letters, and nothing else, you’ll most likely fail to use a Crutch. But if, instead of focusing on that feared word (the problem), you focus on the Crutch (the solution), you’ll succeed.
Examples:

Focus on the pronunciation, really making sure you pronounce every syllable as clearly as possible, while you feel your jaws making that effort. See that I have not mentioned “word” anywhere.

Modulate through those words, from high to low, or viceversa. Visualize the variation of tones and pitch, feel it. It’s almost like singing! When we sing we’re fluent. Same idea applies to this Crutch.

Hold the tone, or link all your syllables, as if your sentence was a very long word. The idea is that you leave no speaces between syllables and letters. Feel the words flowing easily out of your mouth. Say it in a softer tone, and a bit more slowly, that help’s too.

These are some examples that come to my mind. The whole idea behind these tips is that you should only focus on the way you deliver your message. You mind should choose the words for you, without your intermediation, if that makes sense. It’s like when we blink. We don’t control it consciously, because if we do it, we will do it in an unnatural way. Same applies to our speech. It’s not easy to unlearn our old habits and acquire this new one, but it is doable. Practice, practice and more practice, that’s the way to do it.

About meeting with Lee, why don’t you come to one of our SAM Meetings (https://worldstopstuttering.org/speech-club/) so that you can talk to him directly?

[Author]

Posts