My name is Rondel Rampartap, I am from the Caribbean island, Trinidad and Tobago. I am 23 years old. I began stuttering at a tender age of 4. I was constantly told that there are no cures for stuttering and I am destined to live with it forever. However, i still believed and remained positive that one day I will reduce the severity of my stutter or even stop stuttering. I tried working on my own methods and strategies to defeat it but i was unable to win this battle.
I had no choice but to look at alternate solutions, the severity of my stutter and anxiety increased. Then, I discovered Lee’s book, “Stuttering & Anxiety Self-Cures”. I read the book and immediately felt empowered and confident as I realized that Lee – Author, truly understands and can relate to my struggles with speech.
I began using and practicing Lee’s methods and crutches and I was amazed to the extent of which my speech anxiety reduced. However, I noticed that although i had all the tools to use to defeat stuttering, I still had some difficulty applying them to all situations. I then reached out to Mr. Lovett as I believed I needed a live demonstration on how to apply these crutches. He welcomed me with open arms and introduced me one of his fellow PWSS and student- Prathusha, and she has been an inspiration.
Prathusha continues to assist me with live training sessions every week and assigns “homework” at the end. This includes reading aloud daily, doing auto suggestions (talking to yourself positively), Self-hypnosis and practicing my speech using the crutches in all situations, all of these are explained in great detail in his book. These helped and continues to help me immensely as it assists me in keeping a positive mindset to every situation and gives me the confidence i need to eliminate my speech anxiety.
I can now consider myself a PWSS (person who stopped stuttering) after my sixth session, because I have not had not appeared to be speech disabled in over a month. I was ecstatic after hearing those words from Prathusha, however she continued to explain that this training and instilling of positive thoughts is a never ending process and must be continued. I am totally aware of the point, once a stutterer, always a stutterer but now that is in the history because I no longer allow myself to stutter and now my ultimate goal is, I don’t intend for others “to catch me stuttering”. I truly believe that I have now achieved this goal, however, I just need to keep doing my auto suggestions and using my crutch when I need one. If you want to hear me speak, go here: https://vimeo.com/419644597/80238052e7.
I plan to join the SpeechMasters Club on World Stop Stuttering Association (https://worldstopstuttering.org/) and work on my next goal: Teaching myself to love to speak in all situations.
I would like to thank both my coaches, Prathusha and Lee for the time and knowledge shared throughout my journey thus far. You both are true life savers and have given me the confidence and tools needed to destroy my speech anxiety. Prathusha asked me what message I have for stutterers. I can only say read Lee’s book and email him as I did (info@worldstopstuttering.org), It has been an amazing experience being coached by Prathusha, I’m truly thankful for her help. The big news for all is that we CAN stop stuttering. Don’t doubt it, just do it.
RONDEL, Trinidad, May 2020
