Hi Sree,
I disagree with you. Practicing alone does help. It’s like the training a proffesional basketball player does. The proffessional NBA player, does train every day, even alone, so that he makes sure he will be able to do it too when playing against other teams.
This is not the only way to practice with the Crutches. Another excellent way to master the Crutches is to use them too WHEN NOT NEEDED in low pressured situations. Let’s say that in your case a low pressured situation is talking to your partner, or your family, for example. Well, use these speaking situations to practice! Use the Crutches here and there, randomly, on some of your words. You will see how well you can speak if you use Crutches 7-12 as your speaking style (Crutches 8-modulation, 9 and 10 are my personal favourites). Use them as much as possible. And then use Crutches 1-6 on random words. So, start some of your sentences with a sound (C-4), drop the first letter of some of your words, etc.
The more you do it, the easier it will get, EVEN IN HIGH PRESSURED SITUATIONS.
But definitely the best approach for high pressured situations is what we call the “Emergency Speech Plan” (read Section 18.8 of “How To Stop Stuttering & Love Speaking” to know more).
I hope you find this helpful, Sree.

hi again Sree,
the Crutch Practice Sessions have helped many of the PWS that I’ve coached.
Not being able to use the Crutches when under pressure it is a very common problem. The way to solve it is to use the Crutches even when not needed. So, especially in high-pressured situations, start using the Crutches from the beginning.
The Emergency Speech Plan should help you a great deal too. This concept appears in Section 18.8 of Lee’s latest book, “How to Stop Stuttering & Love Speaking”.
Check some of the videos of coaching sessions where we practice this: https://worldstopstuttering.org/videos/?filter_video_tag=emergency-speech-plan

Hi Tino,
Exactly. We’re in the time zone, as I am also 6h ahead of NY. So, yes, 12h NY time = 18h your time. To make sure, I always check it on google by typing “time difference NY Madrid”, or whatever city/state/country I want to check. You can do the same with your hometown, just to be sure.

I hope you enjoy the Crutch Practice sessions and the Crutch Mastery Course!

Keep us posted with your progress.

Hi again Tarek,
we all have our favourite Crutches, and that’s fine, and normal too. But we must know them all, because, logically, the more alternatives we know, the more easily we will solve the problem. There will be situations in which modulation will be the best option, but there will be others in which C-9, or C-1, or any other Crutch might be easier to use there.
Crutches 7-12 are more like “voices” or speaking styles, if that makes sense, and just like you said, they involve less thinking on words. C-10 and C-9 are very easy to learn too. To make sure you use C-9 properly, and without focusing on words, you simply need to make sure you feel the movements of your jaw and muscles of your face. Focus on that. When linking words, I make sure I leave no spaces or gaps between words. So words flow like a river, but I don’t focus on the words, I focus on not leaving gaps, on letting the air come out like a river.
When speaking softly or whispering, I just focus on the tone and volume of my voice.
Now, regarding C-2, immediacy is key. If you start to think of a synonym, it won’t work. So, you might need to practice this a bit. For me, C-4 has been the best for FFW. You simply start with a sound and then make sure you link it to the following words, and then use C-10.
Having a coach to show you how to use the Crutches properly, and correct you if needed, will surely help you a great deal…

Hi Tino! I’m Javier, I live in Madrid (Spain), and I’m a PWSS and one of the Certified Speech Coaches of WSSA. I’m so glad to hear that you’re finding our program helpful.
Like John said, the videos of coaching sessions are pretty much like being coached by one of us. And you can use the filters to search the most appropiate ones for you.
Do watch the video lessons, they will help you too, as well as attending to some of the Crutch Practice sessions to practice them in groups of not more than 5 people. You will also learn a lot from the others.
The SAM meetings (now, on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of every month at 12h NY time) are also great: you can learn from other PWSS and how they stop stuttering, you can ask questions, and they are very motivational.
And finally, receiving private coaching will accelerate the process of becoming a PWSS and learning to love to speak in all venues.

Keep us posted with your progress, and we look forward to seeing you at SAM or the Crutch Practice Sessions (BTW, John’s sessions are very popular, for example: https://worldstopstuttering.org/crutch-practice-group/)

Hi Daniel! Welcome to WSSA! I’m so glad to know that you have joined us and to see that you seem to be taking this seriously. Awesome!

Some tips:

* Make stop stuttering your #1, above anything else.
* Use the Crutches every time you talk, even if you don’t need them to speak fluently. See it as training. You need to practice to master them, and therefore use them more easily when needed.
* Mind training. Give yourself at least 2 daily mind training treatments daily, like Lee suggests in his books. It might take you a while until you start feeling the effects of these treatments, but they do show up. It works. It took me around 2-4 weeks to feel the effects of my self-hypnosis treatments, for example.
* Read aloud at least 1h/day. Do it slowly, without rushing, passionately, like a storyteller would do, and use the Crutches too. You must hear fluency in massive amounts (and not dysfluency) to stop stuttering. That is why reading aloud and speaking in your stutter-free zones is so important.

Come to the SAM meetings and the Crutch Practice Sessions, they will surely help you!

I can’t give you any more specific advice until we meet and I hear you speak (hopefully very soon).

If you have any questions, let me know.

We look forward to hearing about your progress!!

Hi Kristi!! Welcome to WSSA! My name is Javier, I live in Spain, and I’m one of the Certified Speech Coaches of WSSA. I totally understand you. I can’t tell how many times I avoided talking, reading aloud, interacting with other people, etc. But not any more. You can stop stuttering, just like I and many others have done.
And you can do the same! Our methods work, as you can see from our Success Stories, the +1500 videos of coaching sessions, and even if you attend, for example, to this Saturday’s SAM meeting (10am NY time). You can find more about how to attend to these meetings if you click on “Community” and then to “Speech & social Club”, or simply using this link: https://worldstopstuttering.org/speech-club/.
It’d be great to see you there this Saturday!

Have you already read Lee’s book, “How To Stop Stuttering & Love Speaking”? Note that this is the latest edition, the 4th one, released only a few weeks ago, of his “Stuttering & Anxiety Self-cures” book.

Hi Abdulrahman!
yes, I did. I could feel the tension building up all over the muscles of my neck, and the feeling that I’m running out of air. I would even feel that tension in my chest. It was exhausting.
That’s part of speech anxiety. Some suggestions that come to my mind: holding the tone, start smiling before speaking, speak in a softer voice. Even sing or humm some of your words, especially at the beginning of sentences, insert full stops every 1-3 words or so.
All these things should help you succeed at speaking fluently and smoothly. The more “victories” you get, the less pressure you’ll feel the next time you speak in a similar situation, until one day you’ll notice that the tension and pressure are gone. It takes time and many victories, but you can do it!

I hope you find this helpful.