I have struggled with stuttering most of my life. I thought that I would outgrow it, but I didn’t. Sometimes, I blocked completely, causing severe anxiety and depression. I have craved for days, hours and minutes when I did not stutter– and when I did not FEAR stuttering. It consumed my thoughts and me. After I graduated from law school, I tried to practice law, but I stuttered so badly that I resigned myself to a lesser job, but I had speech-problems there, too. My heart pounded when the phone rang, and, when I answered it, I couldn’t even say, “Hello”. I increasingly went into hiding.
No more. I am now admitted to the highest court in my country. I no longer stutter anywhere. How did this miracle happen? I found Lee Lovett’s book (“Stuttering & Anxiety Self-Cures”) online, and I couldn’t believe it. I still read Lee’s book most days and am so grateful for it, and for the Skype sessions, where I always learned new things, things that aren’t even in the book.” I have tried various therapies and therapists. They gave me some relief, but didn’t solve the problem, and some of their teachings just weren’t correct. For example, they told me never to substitute words, and to “bounce” out of words- in essence, stutter out of hard words. Lee stresses the importance of minimizing “public stuttering incidents”, which sometimes requires substituting words and many other methods (including the long list of same in his book). I found Lee’s book on Google. It so stunned me that I read it twice. As Lee so correctly points out, in his beautifully written book, we do not stutter because we stutter; we stutter because we have a FEAR of stuttering. I was a hapless stutterer.
It’s strange, but I was already doing quite a few of the concepts Lee deals with in his book, and I couldn’t stop clapping or giggling when I read about the fact that he would leave out certain letters and syllables to avoid stuttering. This is exactly what I would do to get out of sticky situations, but I just needed somebody to tell me that it was okay to do so, and not “bounce” out of the word. I loved Lee’s weird and wonderful ways to create a memory bank full of positive images…and speak like an actor…and entertain, all helping me focus on my message and the listener and took my mind off of words and away from fearing stuttering.
After reading Lee’s book multiple times and Skyping with him a half dozen times, I no longer fear interviews, saying my name, talking on the phone, or even talking in court, and I will now be returning to the practice of law – where I will have no problem speaking in court, if necessary. I hope to help SAA as a Coach. I am proud of beating stuttering, as it wasn’t easy. (Leah became an SAA Certified Coach in 2018 and is actively coaching a number of PWS.)
I only wish I had found Lee’s book and Skyped with him 17 years ago. I have been changed forever.
Leah, Self-Cured Attorney, December 2017
P.S. On May 22, 2019, NINE months after she posted her Success Story, she wrote this to SAA in an email: “ My speech is phenomenal, I don’t even think about it for a second. Months go past and I’ll think, oh yes I used to stutter. I am so confident and I just wish more people knew about you! It makes me so sad to think people are wasting their lives when there is a cure! ”
P.P.S. In Jan. 2020, 17 months after posting her Story, Amira added these words to her Story: Five years ago . . . stopping stuttering was to me an impossible task. I thought I would end up penniless and invisible, dying alone. Five years later, and I am the best speaker I have ever met! All thanks to you! It’s moments like these that remind me how debilitating stuttering was. . . and now I’m helping others learn your methods. What a joy.
P.P. P.S. In March 2021, after becoming a Certified Speech Coach for WSSA and coaching a half dozen PWS to fluency, she wrote the following to Lee: “I will be forever grateful to you for helping me end my stutter. You saved my life (as I have told you before), and I am not exaggerating in any way.”
P.S. On March 11, 2021, Leah wrote to Lee as follows: “I will be forever grateful to you for helping me end my stuttering. You saved my life (as I have told you before), and I am not exaggerating in any way.” Leah has become an excellent Certified Speech Coach and has already helped ten or so PWS become PWSS.
