My name is Fatoumata. I was born and raised in Guinea, but I live in Morocco, where I am in school, studying Quality and safety management. French is my first language, and I also speak English very well. I started stuttering very young, age 3 or so, and I’m 27 now. My main problem has been fast repeats. I did these in virtually all conversations. Everyone who knew me knew I stuttered. So, I guess you could say that I was a severe stutterer. I suffered all the pains that come with it. I also have a younger brother and sister and two uncles who also stutter.
Growing up in Guinea, there weren’t any speech therapy programs. So, I just lived with it. I began searching the Internet for help, and I found Lee Lovett’s name and then his books. I read his book and loved it. It made me believe that I could stop my stuttering and showed me the way to do it.
Coach Lee’s book mentioned the World Stop Stuttering Association, a community created by ex-stutterers to help PWS. I joined it and began attending WSSA’s SAM Meetings on Saturday (a speech club tailored to the needs of stutterers). This gave me a place to try using Coach Lee’s methods. I got better every day.
One day, at a SAM Meeting, Coach Lee asked me if I would like to Skype with him. I’ve done six or so sessions with him, and all of them helped a lot.
At this point, I haven’t appeared speech disabled in over a month. I am feeling so much better about my speech and life. Now, I want to take WSSA’s Coaching Program and become a Certified Speech Coach. Then, I can coach my four relatives who stutter and maybe some other PWS. I just want to help others the way that WSSA and Coach Lee have helped me.
I used to think that I would stutter to my grave, but I know that isn’t true anymore. My speech isn’t as good as it will be, not yet, but I don’t appear speech disabled anymore. Not only that, I’m not even uncomfortable talking most of the time now, and that’s a first in my life. It’s amazing.
So, if you stutter, you need to know that you can stop your stuttering and live your life in the fluent world. I’m doing that now, and so are hundreds of others who found WSSA and Coach Lee’s books. Join us, and maybe someday I’ll coach you.
Fatoumata, Guinea/Morocco, September 2023
