SAHIL, New Jersey

Hi, I’m Sahil, I was 19 in late 2020, and I had been stuttering pitiably for as long as I could remember. About a year later, after studying Lee’s book and being coached by him, I stopped appearing to be a stutterer. That was about a year ago. I have not relapsed. How did this happen?

Well, it’s a long story. I live in New Jersey. I started stuttering at 9, starting with some choppy speech. My stuttering got worse, however, and by high school, I was struggling to say at least half the words. My stuttering prevented me from talking in school, with teachers and friends, from putting myself in new situations, and overall, being able to live life normally. I had researched to stop my stutter, but everything I did only worked for a limited time; in a few weeks, I’d be back to stuttering as if nothing had happened. Nothing seemed to work. When I got to college, I discovered Lee’s book and read it several times over during the start of COVID. I tried hard to apply his methods as I read, and I was amazed at how I ended my struggle with words by just using 12 simple techniques, anywhere and at any time. I could talk without seeming to stutter, but massive fears plagued me, and sometimes I messed up. I reached out to Lee in late 2020, and we began Skyping for an hour a week, fine-tuning the crutches and slowly removing any residual speech anxieties I had. We kept Skyping for many weeks for about a year. I became interested in the psychological aspect of stuttering and began incorporating auto suggestions into my daily routine, which Lee encouraged me to do. I started to train my mind differently, both to reduce stuttering and to help myself in other areas of life as well. Reading aloud
was also a key pillar of my journey, as doing so reaffirmed my belief in my ability to stop stuttering.

In only a few months of coaching, I saw immediate progress, as I was less timid and willing to speak in classes in college. I no longer struggled in more familiar environments, and I was making progress, but fears still plagued me. A breakthrough came the following summer when I returned to in-person school. Talking to others over zoom or on the phone wasn’t the same as in person, as for me, in-person contact came with additional speech anxieties. However, I found myself subconsciously using the methods that Lee and I had drilled, and that year, no one I had met that year knew that I had ever had a speech problem. Imagine that! That’s right; the guy who stuttered most words in most situations was, seemingly overnight, not appearing to stutter! Incredibly, it’s been almost a year now without a relapse. I could have posted this story in the spring of 2022, as I haven’t stuttered noticeably since then.

I still read and sing aloud for practice and fun, making auto-suggestions and maybe even using a crutch occasionally. There is still work to be done to learn to love to speak: but stopping appearing to be a stutterer is a milestone toward loving to speak in all areas and being confident. Overall, I’m now sure of two things. One, I know that I’ll be able to complete this journey and learn to love to speak. I’ve already been a year without a relapse!

Second, I don’t doubt that I wouldn’t be where I am without Coach Lee, his incredible books, and the program that World Stop Stuttering Association now offers. Lee and now WSSA (a whole community of ex-stutterers like me) have helped me more than I could’ve ever imagined – and Lee does all this out of the goodness of his heart. I’m grateful for everything he’s done, and I’m happy that I won’t be the last person he helps stop stuttering, as the tools and tips he offers are and continue to be invaluable to anyone who stutters.

This I know for sure: Whoever says that stuttering “must be accepted” simply has not read Coach Lee’s books or taken advantage of WSSA’s program, which makes it much easier to understand and apply Lee’s methods. Don’t waste another minute stuttering. If I can overcome stuttering on most words most of the time, so can you.

Sahill, April 2022 and March 2023