My name is Amit, I’m 23 years old and I live in the north-eastern part of India, in an industrial city named Purulia. I’m currently studying electrical engineering in university, and I’ve been stuttering for most of my life (since age 5). I’ve been suffering a terrible speaking problem since the very beginning, not being able to say two or three words without blocking myself.
A few months ago I decided I had enough, I needed to find a solution to my stammering problem, so I did what most of us here did: I searched on the Internet, “how to stop stammering”, and I quickly came across Lee Lovett’s Youtube Channel. I must admit that I have always been quite sceptical about these programs. Here in India there are some speech therapists, quite expensive I must add, who claim they can put an end to a stuttering problem within ten days. Obviously, these are all scams. So when I found Lee’s Youtube channel and watched some of his videos, I realised that his program made sense and that he had already helped a considerable number of People Who Stutter (PWS), no charge. This made me trust him even more. Among the videos that Lee posted in his channel, I found Prathusha’s, an Indian girl who also had a stammering problem, and who now doesn’t, and even speaks beautifully. Her video gave me the confidence and the inspiration needed to get in touch with Lee Lovett and ask him for help.
A few days later I was very surprised, and pleased, to see in my email inbox a reply from Lee Lovett. He told me that one of his coaches (also a PWSS) will get in touch with me very soon. I couldn’t believe it. My stuttering days we’re counted! The next day I received an email from Javier Valcázar, a PWSS living in Madrid (Spain), and offered me his help, so we began with the coaching on that same day. That was mid-March of 2020. On that session I began learning how to use some of the Crutches, and I got to understand the Lovett method much better. He also gave me some instructions and recommendations to continue improving my speech. It is great to meet somebody who shares and understands your problems, and who shows you how to solve them. In five months I finally managed to beat stuttering. I have mastered the Crutches. I know how to avoid getting stuck on words. My stuttering days are over. I never thought I would say this, but I haven’t had a single bad incident in five weeks. This is the new Amit! Last week I had a job interview on the phone, and I didn’t appear to have a speech problem. I couldn’t believe it!
If you want to hear me explain my story, go here: https://vimeo.com/459024175/302ec282ba.
I know that I still need to continue working on my speech, get rid of the residual stutter fears and become a better speaker, and learn to love to speak in all venues. And the right place to do it is here, in World Stop Stuttering Association. Thanks to them I have not only managed to stop stuttering, I’m also learning how to become the boss of my mind, how to become a great speaker. Besides, it is the only community of ex-stutterers in the world.
If you have a stammering problem and want to stop stuttering, you’ve come to the right place. If you ask for my advice, take the Stuttering course of World Stop Stuttering Association. You’ll have access to plenty of contents, such as online courses, hundreds of videos of coaching sessions, the books (especially Lee’s “Stuttering & Anxiety Self-Cures”), WSSA’s blogs, podcasts, forums, weekly meetings… And it’s so much cheaper than other therapies (who don’t provide evidence if they really work). All you need is to be convinced that you can stop stuttering, patience and determination. If I have been able to do it (and +100 others), there is no reason to say you can’t!
Amit, India, September 2020.
