For as long as I can remember, dating back to kindergarten, I have been stuttering.
The terrible memories associated with my speech, has led me to have heightened levels of anxiety. It was the main culprit of my inferiority complexes. It made me a very quiet, shy and reserved individual. I was bullied for it all through my school years. These memories have tarnished my self esteem overall, mentally and physically for many years. I have been able to overcome a lot of my insecurities over time, but the speech anxiety never went away, in fact, it got worse as I got older.
I started speech therapy in kindergarten and had it all the way to 12th grade. I remember being in speech therapy with at least one other student who stuttered, or had some sort of speech impediment. We practiced techniques like “elongating” our words, “bouncing” our words (intentionally stutter first syllables), and “easy on set,” which is saying words softly. Bouncing made my stutter worse. All in all, none of these techniques ever worked for me in conversations, and I started to believe I would have to stutter my whole life. I did believe it. I continued with my life, without trying to seriously stop stuttering until I was 23.
I was doing a network marketing program in 2020, and of course, like the word “network, I had to talk to a lot of people. There was no way to escape it, and all I could do was think about my speech whenever I had to speak for a prolonged time. Growing tired of this impediment, one night, I decided to look for a cure online. I came across Lee’s book, “Stuttering & Anxiety Self Cures.” I read some reviews and watched a video of him speaking on YouTube. I could not believe there was actually someone out there who beat stuttering. I had never heard of it, but I was ecstatic! I remember smiling cheek to cheek and thanking God for bestowing this blessing upon me. I bought the book from Amazon that night.
As I was reading, I soaked in all the treasured information about how to stop stuttering, and it really did make sense to me. Hearing myself stutter less, and eventually not at all, was the only solution to the problem. I immediately started to use Lee’s methods and was reluctant to feel and hear improvement in my speech very quickly.
I was able to do a presentations with work and school, without stuttering one time. While doing those presentations, it was the most confident I ever felt with my speech in my entire life. This was enough to convince me that Lee’s methods do work.
I immediately started to use Lee’s methods recommended in his book and I saw instant improvements. I suddenly felt happier and more determined to kill Satan Stuttering. The main thing that helps my speech is reading aloud everyday, and practicing the crutches and using my speech plan. Coach Lee keeps telling me that the most important part of the program is mind training, giving yourself two 20 minute treatments daily. Taking control of your thoughts about speech and the rest of your life.
All you stutterers out there need to know that stuttering can be stopped, and Lee’s charity, World Stop Stuttering Association/WSSA, is the place to do it. WSSA is the world’s only community of ex-stutterers, and they have helped hundreds stop stuttering. They have many coaching videos, master class videos, a speech club (SAM), practice sessions and hang outs. All of this is very inexpensive, less than the cost of one hour of therapy from most speech therapists. So, it’s a new world out there. Coach Lee and some of WSSA’s other coaches coach for free and the charge for the others is a fraction of what most therapies cost. So, stuttering is on the way out. Join WSSA and you’ll probably see me at SAM Meeting.
Akenee, Georgia, U.S., July 2024
