I began stuttering as early as I can remember, around age five. Words were always difficult to say throughout my childhood, into my teens, and even in high school. I experienced long blocks, grimaces, repetitions, and head movements—I had it all. I was the guy in high school who stuttered, but that never stopped me from being social. I had a fun time in school and many friends, but, as I told Coach Lee, “I am the worst stutterer you’ll ever hear.” That was my opinion of myself, until I read Lee’s books and joined WSSA.
From age eight to about thirteen, I attended speech therapy. These sessions took place every school holiday, such as Christmas or Easter. They were always in large classes with other people who stutter (PWS), and the focus was on “techniques” like stretching words, bouncing words, and breathing exercises. None of these methods ever helped me. I stopped attending therapy when I was fourteen and decided to deal with it myself.
I’ve had dozens of embarrassing moments related to my speech, one of which I’ll never forget. When I was fourteen, I raised my hand to answer a question in History class. I had a long block, and my teacher, staring deeply at me, quickly said, “Is there anyone else who can answer?” The whole class laughed, and I was humiliated. This is just one of many memories I’ve pushed to the back of my mind as I grew it, it was ALWAYS there. Like most non-stutterers, he had no idea what my problem was.
My speech has always fluctuated, with periods where it was so severe I couldn’t say a single word, and times when I was semi-fluent.
Unfortunately, the bad moments always outweighed the good ones. In most everyone’s eyes, I was a heavy stutterer.
I continued with my life, pushing my speech issues to the back of my mind, even though it was the first thing people noticed when they met me. I chose to ignore my speech.
In 2024, I had an interview for a role, and my speech was so bad that I couldn’t say a single word (I audio recorded it). It was the worst my speech had ever been. I broke down in tears after the interview. I decided that enough was enough and that I needed to dedicate time and effort to address this issue. Side note: I surprisingly landed the role for that interview.
I discovered Lee’s content on reddit and signed up for WSSA just 30 minutes after my interview ended. The coaching sessions have been amazing, I’ve used the crutches such as Speaking with passion, Extreme pronunciation, and a speech plan of short link stop. I found it easiest and most effective to simply think “Say it like you MEAN IT,” as I spoke. As I did that, I did not stutter. Coach Lee got me doing that in our first coaching session, and I was fluent for the rest of the session. It seemed like a miracle. After the session, when I thought “Mean it” I didn’t stutter. If I forgot to think that, I did stutter. So, I had to learn to think it all the time when I spoke until it became natural. Slowly, I learn to speak with no crutch at all, which is the goal of this program.
I just needed to put in the work to unshackle my tongue. I don’t believe in feeling like a victim and believing I can’t get better. I ALWAYS BELIEVED that I would surpass this speech disability.
I now live a life where words flow easily, where I say things confidently instead of keeping quiet. I consider myself a religious Muslim, I used to supplicate to God to lighten the knot on my tongue. I then came across Lee Lovetts methods and his amazing coaching-therapy sessions.
I can’t put into words how grateful I am , and I only wish goodness for Lee, his family and everyone in WSSA who facilitated this program.
My journey is not over, I will continue to read out loud a minimum 1hr a day, I will continue to join the practise crutch sessions, and I will continue joining SAM. I want to learn to love to speak in all situations and to able to say that I converted stuttering into a blessing in my life, but I can now say that I joined this program in March 2024 and I stopped appearing to be a stutterer by the summer of 2024.
For anyone that thinks everyone posting these stories is a paid actor and this is all made up, i have videos from 2014 with myself stuttering heavily and speaking fluently now. You can find them in WSSA’s library of coaching videos too. As I wrote to Coach Lee, he is a human goldmine, and this program is not fake, everyone here is real, and this program is like gold hidden in soil.
Ibross, London, November 2024
