My name is Annie. My mother and uncle stutter; so, for me, it was genetic. I’m 24 now and am in the last year of medical school in Pakistan. My languages are Urdu, Punjabi and English, in that order. I began stuttering at age 11, and it slowly grew worse until, at age 18, it was noticeable by everyone and had become a curse. For the past six years, through college and medical school, it has continued to get worse, even keeping me from speaking in career-threatening situations. When I was required to give presentations to professors and/or other students, I sometimes blocked totally; my mind went blank; I couldn’t’ say or even read a word. It was ghastly.
In the fall of 2017, I decided that I had to find a solution, somehow. A friend of mine, a fellow PWS, seemed to be speaking much more fluently. I inquired as to what he was doing. He told me about Lee Lovett, and he gave me Lee’s book. I consumed it and began applying its methods and it helped me considerably. I then emailed Lee and began Skyping in February 2018. By April, I had almost stopped all stuttering. Now, in early June 2018, I have stopped stuttering; I haven’t stuttered in a debilitating way in a month or so. It took about four months, and I am thrilled beyond words.
What did I do? Everything that Lee’s book suggests: I read aloud massively; I gave myself daily auto suggestion and self-hypnosis treatments, and I worked on the Crutches until they became automatic. I gradually stuttered less and less until I was able to avoid stuttering or blocking at all.
I loved Skyping with Lee. He is kind and cares about his PWS, and we feel it. I will never forget the lessons that he taught me. He is an angel sent from God. Someday, I hope to meet him. I told him that, as a “thank you”, I would like to translate his book into Urdo. (It’s already been translated into Hindi, Chinese and French,, all “for love” by grateful PWS-readers.) Anyway, I can’t thank him and the others at Speech Anxiety Anonymous enough for all that they do for PWS, all free, all because they suffered Satan Stuttering and they care.
If you stutter, I urge you to read Lee’s book as soon as possible and Skype with him and the other SAA coaches. All of them just want to help us and do they ever. Now, it’s your turn to stop your stuttering. Go on SAA’s website and register and Follow Lee on Twitch.tv and start watching the videos. If want to hear me talk about this, here’s a link to the video that I just did: “Annie’s Success Story”, https://vimeo.com/388856130/f498cecdef. Good luck and good speech to you.
Annie, Pakistan, June 2018
