The Crutches are not difficult. What is difficult is being a Speech Cop.
It took me some time to realize that I first had to stop forcing my words. I had to shut my mouth as soon as I felt tension in my face and/or realized I was trying to force my words.
I desired so desperately to become a fluent person and I knew that, unless I became a Speech Cop and refused to stutter under any circumstances, Satan Stuttering would continue to have his way. I was determined not to let that happen!
A student of mine that I was recently coaching had the exact same problem. Once he took my advice and acted on it, his speech improvement became impressive. It’s like a light bulb went off and he suddenly “got it”. Now that he has committed himself not to force any words, and is beginning to master the Crutches, I am confident that he will self-cure soon.
Yet another person I am coaching refuses to take these steps. I am working hard to convince her that if she won’t commit to using Crutches and to being a Speech Cop, then she will continue to have problems. If she wants results, she must be willing to try something different.
This like driving a car. The first thing to do if we are losing control of the car is to stop accelerating. Once we do that, depending on the situation, we will put on the brake, or veer one way, or do something else to avoid the crash – we have options. This is the same with the Crutches – we have 12 options. Once we learn them well enough, it’s easy to choose which to use to avoid a stutter.
My student hasn’t learned the Crutches well enough yet and so I tell her to stop talking when she feels a stutter coming. But she continues to tell me that she “must speak” in certain situations and, because of this, she must stutter. But this is just not true. I know, because I lived it. You never have to speak. What if you had an accident and lost your voice? Would you survive? Could you still live your life and get by? Of course you could! Stuttering is never a better option. It hurts you and is painful to those listening.
Being a Speech Cop is not the only answer to stuttering. All the other ways of hearing fluency and mind-training help, which are explained in detail in Lee’s book and Stuttering course. But if you allow yourself to continue to add stutter memories, a self-cure will be a long way off. You-alone can stop it. It’s your choice.
