Vlad is my name. I’m 41, and I have been looking for fluency since my pre-teen years. I had therapies in my pre-teens and teens again a few years ago, but nothing has really come near to solving the problem. I’m currently employed as business consultant by a multinational agency in South Africa, where I moved from Israel some years ago. I really needed desperately to get talking to audiences. I just couldn’t find the gears nor articulate the correct words and the panic and anxiety were crippling. At 41, I have been hoping for fluency for most of my life. I too have been to hypnotherapy, but I really did need something more. While my speech did get better as an adult, it was still there distinctly. I never knew where I might crash and burn with my speech. My career and my relationships were going to suffer big time.
I read the reviews of Lee’s book on Amazon, got his book and emailed Lee. We started Skyping and, after a couple months, I stopped stuttering enough for people to notice. I began reading aloud daily and giving myself a couple auto suggestion treatments daily and using the crutches, and the speech fog began to lift. Skyping helped me learn to use the crutches better. I used to have huge issues saying my name, but they have been totally gone for months. I haven’t been embarrassed by my speech in over two months now. I can also say that I do believe that I can avoid any stutter or block now; that is, the listener won’t see or detect one. I still fight fear or speech anxiety, but it is also diminishing. I no longer feel that speech problems threaten my career or negatively impact my social communications. Lee even says that, at this point, he could not detect any trace of a speech problem whatsoever.
In short, I feel so much better about my speech and my life. I am learning to love to speak as well, and my anxieties keep shrinking. It’s a new and better life for me. I am simply happier. I also agree with Lee that my lifetime of stuttering can be turned into an advantage, if I will keep using daily mind training for problems beyond my stuttering.
It’s a whole new world out there for stutterers. SAA has changed the landscape. If speech anxiety plagues you, join us and get rid of it.
VLAD, South Africa, November 2018
