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JavierModeratorHi Adam. I remember that Lee mentioned the author and this book in particular in both his Stuttering and Speech Anxiety books. I’m sure most as PWS, and probably as PWSS will find it helpful. I still haven’t read it, but I have just added it to my list of books to read. Thanks for the recommendation!
For me, as a PWS, celebrating each speech success helped me a lot. Even if this speech success was something as simple as saying “good morning” to someone, I forced myself to celebrate it, to feel good about it, to acknowledge my progress, no matter how small it was…
JavierModeratorHi Sun!
that also used to happen to me when I was a PWS.
Some things that have helped me a lot are:
– Smiling before speaking. Might seem silly, but it does make a difference. You’re focusing on keeping a smile instead of words.
– Hand gestures. Be more expressive.
– Keep it short. Ask questions instead of talking about yourself. Try to learn something from the people you’re talking to. You’ll be liked more (people love to talk about themselves), and, as a listener, you won’t feel pressure. (By the way, have you read Dale Carnegie’s “How to make friends and influence people”? If not, it’s a must-read)
– Try to speak as soon as you have an urge to say something, don’t give time to your brain to plan your next sentence. As soon as you have the kernel of an idea, start speaking. Your brain is fully capable of forming sentences “without your help”. You can also think of a Crutch (but focus on using that Crutch 100%) instead of your words. Or try both things at the same time!Start practicing these things with the people you feel most comfortable with, and step by step, expand your comfort zones to people or situations you feel A BIT more pressure, and keep doing this until you feel no pressure in almost any situation. It will take some time but it’s so much worth it…
JavierModeratorHi Kionne!!
Welcome to WSSA!! I’m sure that the book is going to beat stuttering once and for all!!
The key to do it is to be very consistent, and work on the methods herein 24/7, until you master them, until you do them without thinking. It requires patience and determination, but you will definitely get there. A lot of us have done it, so you can also do it!!
I hope to see you in the SAM meetings!! (every Saturday at 10am NY time)January 29, 2021 at 8:54 am in reply to: Challenges you faced while Travelling for longer durations like 1-3 weeks? #28815JavierModeratorVery well said, Leah!!
January 29, 2021 at 7:48 am in reply to: Challenges you faced while Travelling for longer durations like 1-3 weeks? #28809JavierModeratoryes, exactly. And doing something is always better than doing nothing.
JavierModeratorHello Michael,
I’ve already sent you an email regarding the requested 3 free coaching sessions 🙂January 28, 2021 at 3:38 pm in reply to: Challenges you faced while Travelling for longer durations like 1-3 weeks? #28803JavierModeratorHi Shubham!
I agree with you, when we are on holidays or travelling, it is not so easy to do all these things, especially at the usual times.
Before I found Lee’s books and WSSA, was always worse when I was travelling.
But since I found Lee’s method that’s no longer the case.
for example, if I wake up later than usual, and I don’t have time to give myself a proper self-hypnosis treatment, well, I can try to give myself an AST while taking a shower, or when taking a walk., etc.
Even if there if you’re too busy during the morning, well, you can do that AST/SHT in the afternoon.
I’ve always, or almost always, managed to find 20 minutes for my mind training treatments.
I must admit that this has been harder for me when it comes to reading aloud when I’m travelling, especially if I have to do a lot of things. But I try to find a few minutes to read aloud whenever I can. If I’m always with people, I can whisper under my breath so as to avoid disturbing them.There has been times when I’ve missed reading aloud and/or doing my mind training treatments, and I really feel the difference. I don’t feel as confident, as relaxed as if I had done any of these 2. Does this also happen to you?
JavierModeratorHi Michael,
first of all, wecome to World Stop Stuttering Association!! My name is Javier, I’m a PWSS and one of the Certified Speech Coaches here.About your questions about ASTs: the more detailed and vivid these visualizations are, the better they’ll work for you. By this I mean, try to feel like you’d like to feel in those situations (in a video call, as you mentioned, for example). Try to visualize yourself in difficult or stressful speaking situations (personally, I do it in 3rd person, but at the same time trying to feel as if I was doing that video call; I don’t know if this makes sense to you), speaking in a relaxed, confident way, even enjoying yourself.
But don’t forget that the most important thing about ASTs is REPETITION. The most repeated thought becomes your dominant thought. Your dominant thought will become your reality.Just like you said at the beginning of your post, you must be more consistent, and try to use the Crutches every time you’re going to say somehting. This is the only way you can acquire the habit of speaking using the Crutches, and therefore not planning/fearing words. And of course, you must also do the ASTs (and/or SHTs) and read aloud every day. This will expedite your self-cure.
Finally, about what you said about the 3 free coaching sessions, I’m sorry to hear that you still haven’t received a reply. I’m going to inform my team, and they will get back to you shortly.
I hope to see you again this Saturday at the SAM meeting!!!
JavierModeratorHi Sun,
first of all, welcome to WSSA. Just like Leah, I’m also a PWSS and a Certified Speech Coach of WSSA.
I totally agree with Leah’s recommendation. To be able to know how to use the Crutches, probably the best way to do it is to watch the video lessons of th “Crutch Mastery Series” and “Stuttering & Anxiety self-cures” courses. One thing is to read from the book how to use the Crutches, and another thing is to see somebody use them, and explain them to you.
And of course, if you become a Stuttering member of WSSA you will also get access to all the videos of coaching sessions. We practice the Crutches in most of them, so watching any of these videos will surely help you a great deal too. And now, if you subscribe to this membership, you get 3 free coaching sessions with one of us!Although it might be a bit too late in Japan, I really recommend you to attend to the SAM meetings. We have these meetings every Saturday at 10am NY time. In this meetings you will be able to meet us, the coaches (including Lee Lovett), other PWSS and PWS. The speaker of this week’s meeting is one of my students, who’s a PWSS now, and he’s going to talk about his speech journey. I’m sure you’ll find it very motivating, and you’ll surely learn a lot too.
As a free member of WSSA you can get the Zoom details of these meetings if you go to the “Community” section of this website, and click on “Speech Club”. Once you’re there, you need to click on “Zoom information for next meeting”.
Have a great day!!
JavierModeratorHi Khaled,
About your first question, the more relaxed that you are, the better, because your subconscious mind will be more receptive to the instructions (affirmations) that you repeat to yourself. So I would suggest you to try to be as relaxed as you can before starting the auto-suggestion treatment. That is what the breathing exercises are for: to relax yourself.
In my case, after doing auto-suggestions (and self-hypnosis) for quite a long time, most days I don’t feel the need to do these breathing exercises, because I can get relaxed quite quickly.Regarding your second questions, saying the affirmations aloud is always more effective. And you would also be hearing yourself speaking fluently (and therefore creating new fluency memories). I would say them when you exhale, in a soft voice.
Once you’re relaxed, you can say your affirmations normally.Finally, your last question: the “proper” auto-suggestions treatments are the ones that we recommend to do at least twice a day: once in the morsning, when arising, and the other one before going to bed at night. Why? These are the moments when our subconscious mind is more receptive. But when I was a PWS I used to do another one during the afternoon.
These auto-suggestion treatments should be done this way: first of all, we must be relaxed (to achieve this state you can do the breathing exercises that we discussed here), then we simply have to repeat our affirmations aloud, each one at least 20 times. We also recommend to say these affirmations in a passionate way.The idle-time autosuggestions are complimentary treatments to the ones I’ve just explained. These should be done whenever we have a negative thought, such as a stuttering fear. Let’s say that you have to make a phone call and you fear stuttering during that phone call. Well, before that, try to visualize yourself (visualization is very important both in auto-suggestion and self-hypnosis treatments) speaking fluently, confidently, calmly, while you repeat to yourself one or two affirmations (examples: “I love to speak on the phone”, “I feel very relaxed when I speak on the phone”). These idle-time affirmations help us reject negative thoughts and keep our minds full of positive ones.
Let me know if I’ve been able to answer all your questions, Khaled.
Have a great day!
JavierModeratorHi Jennifer. Just wanted to inform you that the Crutch Mastery Series course will be available on Monday.
JavierModeratorHi Jennifer. I love your enthusiasm! And that you are finding self-hypnosis very helpful too. I began doing SH more than a year ago, and it haz helped me a great deal too.
Please keep us posted with your progress, and I look forward to meeting you in the SAM session of next week 🙂JavierModeratorHi Jennifer, you’re right. The Crutch Mastery Series course is still not available. Whenever it is, we will let you know.
In the meantime, you can learn to use the Crutches, and master them, if you go to the “Videos” section of this website. You will see that there are multiple filters that you can use to search videos. Among those filters, there are several that might help you:
– Specific crutches: “Crutch 1”, “Crutch 2” …. “Crutch 13”.
– Tags: “Crutches”, “Crutches Overview”, “First coaching session” (in the first coaching session we normally overview the Crutches), “Speaking like a King/Queen”, “modulation”, “word linkage”, etc.Doing this can be a pretty good substitute of this course.
JavierModeratorVery well said, Vikram. Normally we sound hesitant when we are talking too fast and without pauses. The opposite of this is Speaking like a King (Crutch 11), and this will enable you to speak in a smoother, more confident way.
You have to make this a habit, and to do it you have to use it all the time, even when you don’t need to use it.JavierModeratorHi Jennifer! Welcome to WSSA!
I’m really impressed about how you’ve described your stutter, it reminds me so much about mine. I also used to stutter a lot more when I spoke in English (because I planned a lot more words in this language).
I really love that you’re so enthusiastic about this method. That’s the spirit!!
The 3rd Edition is so much better than the 2nd one. It’s twice as long as the second Edition. And Lee is now working in a 4th one!!If you have become a Stuttering member, I really encourage you to watch the video lessons of the Stuttering book (in this website, in the Section “Courses”). These will help you understand the book much better, especially when it comes to the Crutches and the mind training.
You also have access to +1000 videos of coaching sessions, and you can use the filters to search the most appropiate ones.
The SAM meetings (section “Community”) are also very useful. Why? you will meet us, the coaches, including Lee, and other PWSS and PWS. You will hear their stories, how they became PWSS, their questions, comments, you can also ask questions…. So you can learn a lot from here, and I find it extremely motivating. These meetings are every Saturday at 10am NY time. (If you’re a free member, you will also get access to these).
The coaches have written blogs in that section, and these are thought to complement the book, so you will find some very useful advice too.
If you’re a Stuttering member, you have 3 free coaching sessions with one of us, the coaches. While these 3 sessions might not be enough (or they might!) for you to become a PWSS, you will surely improve a lot if you follow our instructions.
And finally, I’d like to tell you that if there are so many success stories posted (PWSS), there is no reason to believe that you can’t become a PWSS too. I’m sure than even some of us, PWSS, had a worse stutter than yours!
All you need to do is put effort, determination and patience, and you’ll become a PWSS. No doubt about that, It’s a matter of time!!!
Will you attend to this Saturday’s SAM meeting? (you’re not required to speak if you don’t want to). I really look forward to seeing you there!!
(btw, I posted a similar reply to this one some days ago, but for some reason it hasn’t been posted)
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