Since the bright age of 4, my voice has been shackled with chains of restraint. Rehearsing Bible verses and the Lord’s Prayer out-loud for an audience to hear were painstaking tasks. Short recitals were followed by informal conversations among the family. My attempts at proper communication was a rocky road filled with potholes and barriers. From childhood through the years of my adolescence, my voice has been locked up deep in the abyss of my thoughts. Thoughts of “if only” and “why me” lingered through the forest of my mind. I have attended various speech classes with little avail. Avoidance, and crumbling self-confidence took stronghold of my silent being.
32 years of poor speech has finally met a formidable opposing force – and that force is Lee Lovett and his Neuroscience Method of stopping stuttering. In 2019, scrolling through the internet I tread upon a few speech videos on YouTube. These videos were properly named as “The game of tongues”. During these comprehensive videos, Coach Lee would implement speech crutches to assist the hopeful protégé. I curiously watched as once debilitated speech transformed into an eloquent rendition. I mistrusted my eyes and ears that witnessed the recurrent happenings. Rays of hope streamed through the darkness of despair. Will I be able to unleash the power of my voice? Will I finally be able to share my opinions? These questions could only be answered if I took my first steps to fluency. Without hesitation but with prayers I moved forward.
Over the past two years, I viewed numerous coaching videos which helped reinforce Coach Lee’s strategy. With persistence I read all of the speech books authored by our champion, Coach Lee. These wise words were read multiple times so as to engrave the ideology of fluency. The recorded SAM meetings from WSSA inspired this discontented soul. Major improvements in verbal communication was evident to both my family and myself. However, the greatest improvement in communication began a few weeks back.
After viewing numerous videos from WSSA’s video library, I decided to be in front of the bright lights and register for coaching sessions. Hesitant of zoom meetings, the decision to attend coaching sessions was a Herculean step. The joyous Coach Javier was the teacher and I the student. Over the past five weeks, implementing my specific speech plan significantly boosted my verbal communication. I am no longer appearing to be speech disabled; that is, strangers do not view me as a stutterer. I still have minor incidents but they too have diminished significantly; so I am near complete healing of my infirmity.
I continue to implement daily mind training and reading out load for an hour daily. These exercises have helped to develop a formidable fortress against the attacks of Satan Stuttering. WSSA’s group practice sessions and SAM Meetings have helped me immensely too, as I have met other people like me, and together we practice, we learn and we help each other. The chains have been broken and will never take hold of my voice. I am the master of my tongue and the captain of my speech. I am so grateful for WSSA’s community of ex-stutterers and those fast becoming ex-stutterers. It is the only one of its kind in the world, and it will surely enable countless more stutterers to live seamlessly in the fluent world, as I will now do.
Sam, Georgia, USA, June 2024
